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Ghosts or Gospels 

The Methods of Spiritualism in Healing 

Compared with the Methods 

of Christ 

By Henry B". Wilson, B. D. 

Author of 

"The Revival of the Gift of Healing" 

"The Power to Heal" 

"Does Christ Still Heal?" 



A Guide to the Use of Our Psychic Powers 



Copyright 1922 



The Nazarene Press 
Boonton, N. J. 



*t£ 



<p\ 



MAY 12 23 

g)CU704906 



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TO THE MEMBERS OF 

W$t Society ot tfie jlJaiatmt 

FOR THEIR FIDELITY IN EXERCISING THE HEALING POWER 
ACCORDING TO THE MASTER'S METHOD, AND FOR 
THEIR ZEAL IN GUARDING IT FROM SUPER- 
STITION AND IGNORANCE, THIS 
VOLUME IS DEDICATED WITH 
LOVING GRATITUDE 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 1 

CHAPTER 

I Healing and Spirit "Control" 6 

II Healed Through A Message 13 

III The Gift Fully Consecrated 33 

IV The Seamy Side of Spiritualism ... 46 

V Haunted Bodies and Haunted 

Houses 54 

VI "The Unseen Doctor" 66 

VII The Teachings of Jesus 78 

VIII True Spiritual Communication... 86 

IX Guidance For Students 102 

X Bibliography and Review Ill 



INTRODUCTION 

My efforts as Director of the Society of the 
Nazarene have been expended not only in restoring 
the ministry of healing, but endeavoring to pre- 
serve that ministry in its pure simplicity, that the 
character of the work, as outlined by the Master be 
not misrepresented. 

We are in sympathy with the best things in mod- 
ern medicine and surgery. None deplores the ignor- 
ance and mistakes in this field more than the en- 
lightened physician and surgeon of today. We are 
likewise in sympathy with some of the forms of 
mental-therapy and psycho-analysis, a subject upon 
which few specialists agree, and of which new and 
contradictory schools are springing up steadily. Un- 
fortunately, it is being exploited by some practition- 
ers solely for money-making purposes, just as 
hypnotism was degraded a generation ago. We real- 
ize that Christian Science, in spite of its untenable 
philosophy, has been of great value in the lives of 
multitudes, seeking peace, and relief from evil habits 
and bodily disease. We know that other healing 
cults, included in the term "New Thought," have 
been of great help to many disordered minds and 
bodies in producing harmony of thought, release 
from disease and liberation from harmful tendencies. 



2 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

Nevertheless, we feel confident that Jesus possessed 
the Master Method, calculated to reach man's inner 
spirit as no other system could reach it, and to pro- 
duce within him those elements of renewed strength 
and power that would overcome his weaknesses, 
physical, mental and spiritual. 

He was the one who knew all of God's law and will 

for man and because of that knowledge was enabled 
to point the way by which man might place himself 
in harmony with those laws and that Divine Will, 
and thus find the secret of the Power. 

We do not believe that anyone who has to do with 
Divine Healing should trifle with the Truth or 
make mockery of God's laws. When "Brother 
Isaiah," using the laws of suggestion and playing 
on the credulity of an expectant crowd, claims to 
change the color of the sun or make it whirl around, 
he casts great discredit on "Divine Healing" and 
lays the whole practice open to well merited rebuke 
and scoffing on the part of the unsympathetic. Such 
acts also harm the budding faith of those who may 
be seeking truth along these lines. (See "The Naz- 
arene" for June 1920). 

Likewise there are to be found some practitioners 
in all schools, even including the medical profession, 
who are little more than opportunists and from 
whose misguided efforts much harm has resulted to 
patients. Frequently we find they have been led far 



INTRODUCTION 3 

from the truth. It has been a case of blind leading 
the blind and both have fallen into the ditch. 

For this reason we feel it very necessary to pre- 
sent this little book on Spiritualism, which in many 
quarters has invaded the field of Spiritual Healing. 
The reader is asked to bear in mind that what is 
written is not presented in a spirit of controversy 
or criticism of the methods of others, but solely with 
the view of keeping before our minds the methods 
of Jesus. I feel that His work among men reached 
the highest point ever known. No system of phi- 
losophy or mental therapy has approached it. It 
harmonizes with the best in modern science. It is 
not weakened but rather strengthened by all of the 
latest discoveries of the laboratory and by the truly 
miraculous manner by which man may utilize the 
ether waves and girdle the earth with voices other- 
wise unheard and pictures unseen. Jesus knew all 
these laws and operated through them. His work 
in the invisible realm through the power of faith 
and love, was not more marvelous than man's scien- 
tific work with radio now. 

One of the obligations laid upon a disciple of the 
Master is to defend the Truth as well as to present 

it. The presentation is by no means sufficient. It 
is the great tragedy of Christianity that men have 
taken the Truth and given it their own particular 
bias, so that in many instances it is hard to find the 



4 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

germ of Truth upon which some of the sects were 
founded. Likewise, fantastic theologies are creep- 
ing into the healing ministry. Cults founded on our 
Lord's healing works have added philosophies and 
invented interpretations which have led followers 
far afield. Some, in disobedience to His simple com- 
mands, have discarded the Sacraments, as of no 
value. In many quarters we now find this healing 
ministry is being involved in teachings and prac- 
tices, and becoming confused with primitive spirit- 
istic beliefs in Demonism. 

Jesus encountered difficulties of this nature all 
through his ministry. The current beliefs of the 
people and traditional interpretation of the Old 
Testament Scriptures brought forth many a rebuke 
from Him, necessitated bitter controversies, from 
which He did not shrink, though they bid fair at 
times to wreck His Mission. He even was compelled 
to resort to "hard sayings," so unconventional that 
many of those whom He had attracted, left Him 
and "walked no more with Him." To many this 
would seem like loss. But it was loss only to those 
who left Him because He was defending as well as 
presenting the Truth. 

We have chosen to follow His Method, and adhere 
to His plan. In doing so we cannot err as He said 
of Himself: "I am The Way, The Truth and The 
Life." 



INTRODUCTION 



"There is a temper in the passion for 
truth which will not tolerate the slightest 
suspicion of error, which only exposes any- 
thing untrue in order immediately to make 
war upon it," writes Dr. Orchard. "The de- 
termination not to admit anything that 
might falsify is responsible for the great ad- 
vance of science, and it has given a new 
passion of truth to all the world. We have 
all learned to set ourselves down humbly and 
submissively before fact; truth has to be 
loved first of all, and anything like fancy or 
following what we would like things to be 
has to be ruthlessly put aside by the scien- 
tific or philosophical thinker. It would be 
well if in the realm of ordinary human fact 
there was the same desire to keep to truth." 
Dr. W. E. Orchard in "The Safest Mind 
Cure." 



CHAPTER I 
HEALING AND SPIRIT "CONTROL" 

The unusual increase in the interest in spiritual- 
ism and the endeavor to secure communication with 
the departed during the past few years, have resulted 
in the intrusion of this subject into the field of 
healing. I believe in "spiritual healing," and by that 
I mean healing coming from the spirit of God and 
operating on the body through the spirit of man. 
I make no claim for anything supernatural about the 
act, nor do I consider that natural laws are broken, 
suspended or superceded. By the power of the 
spirit of man, working in harmony with the spirit of 
God, we infuse into the body, a higher natural 
strength than could be obtained by the mind alone. 
We set in operation certain natural laws, about 
which we are learning something new all the time. 

There are some healers, however, who perform 
their work, claiming to be under the "control" of 
some powerful spirit; others claim a special power, 
through a higher re-incarnation of which they are 
quite assured ; not a few are deeply interested in the 
possession of their patients by the souls of depart- 
ed persons, who passed out in an unhappy state of 
mind, seeking a resting place and meanwhile tor- 
menting a human being. This belief is far more 
prevalent than is good for healthy minded people. 



HEALING AND SPIRIT CONTROL ,j 7 

Still other healers treat almost every case of in- 
sanity, epilepsy or melancholia as that of a demon 
possession, and sometimes with very disastrous re- 
sults. One young man, having gone West for his 
health, was exorcised in this fashion by a healer to 
whom he went for help. It had never occurred to 
him that he was "possessed of a devil" and the 
treatment, instead of being a help, became a horrible 
suggestion, which fastened itself upon his mind. He 
came back home obsessed with the new idea, and 
bordering upon insanity. When reassured he be- 
gan to recover and is perfectly well today. 

While there are a few healers of the clairvoyant 
order, working under what they term "spirit con- 
trol," and by that we mean the spirit of some de- 
parted human being, there is one rather remarkable 
case of this character, which has been published in 
book form, entitled "The Unseen Doctor." A short 
review of it will be found in a later chapter. It is 
representative of many cases. 

Automatic Writing 

Automatic writing has come into great vogue 
during the past few years, because it seems to be 
one of the easiest and quickest methods of com- 
munication. It requires no instrument, no com- 
panions, no darkened room and apparently may be 
resorted to at will. People who have never used any 
other form of attempted communication have found 



8 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

themselves more or less successful with pencil and 
pad. 

Those who possess strong psychic natures pro- 
duce remarkably beautiful messages at times ; those 
without this gift reflect the normal results of the 
subconscious, and even their conscious minds. 

The Psychic Gift 

What constitutes this so called ' 'psychic" nature 
or gift is still much of a mystery to psychologists 
and scientists. That its existence is genuine and 
that it is a unique power is unquestioned. It un- 
doubtedly partakes of the nature of an electric 
force, is vibratory in character and is definitely link- 
ed with the sub-conscious or subjective mind of the 
person. Some consider it an invisible force, the 
character of which is still unknown. The average 
person possessing it does not understand it him- 
self, and when trickery is resorted to in connection 
with it, the operator is often unconscious of it. 
Table-tipping, and the ability to exercise unusual 
muscular power at will, constitute phenomena now 
accepted by science, but still unexplained. 

The unfortunate aspect is that many of those who 
possess this psychic gift utilize it in connection wltn 
spirit communication, or act as if "spirit control" 
were the source of the power. 

This is the commonly accepted use of the psychic 
gift. Such use I regard as a prostitution of an 



HEALING AND SPIRIT CONTROL 9 

unusual talent, which should be utilized for very 
different purposes. 

During the past year rather remarkable state- 
ments have been made by investigators of scientific 
repute that certain mediums possess an invisible 
force which they have designated "ectoplasm," by 
means of which tables are lifted and upon which 
"spirit" faces are produced. This of course changes 
the spiritistic theory entirely. An extended note on 
this discovery will be given later. 

I believe also in clairvoyance and clairaudience. 
They are undoubtedly special talents, which are in 
no way connected with spirit control of a departed 
person, yet many ignorant men and women com- 
mercialize these gifts and operate with them as if 
they were the work of other souls. In doing so 
they have simply fallen into the popular thought of 
the majority of those around them and those who 
have preceded them, who were brought up to believe 
their unique gift depended upon some discarnate 
spirit. Naturally they would reach out to locate a 
"guide" or "control," and their subconscious nature 
would gratify the longing by selecting some famous 
personage of by-gone days or an Indian princess or 
even a little colored girl. I visited a famous clair- 
voyant who, in her trance always talked and acted 
like a fifteen year old darkey girl, whose spirit she 
believed guided her. Sometimes mediums claim to 
have a choice of several spirits, whose widely differ- 



10 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

ing personalities they assume according to their 
mood. 

What is needed more than anything in this aspect 
of research work today, is the re-education of all 
"psychic" persons to the point where they will recog- 
nize the fact that this gift or peculiarity is not the 
result of departed spirit control, and that it should 
not be so exercised. Some who are psychic border 
on the abnormal and need guidance and restraint as 
well as education. Their thoughts then would be 
lifted to a higher plane and they would operate with 
much more power and much more usefulness, as 
being more in harmony with the will of God. The 
gift should be looked upon as coming directly from 
Him and they should consecrate themselves as spe- 
cial instruments for His work and His Glory. 

The Character of Psychic Power 

In not a few instances the psychic gift seems to 
possess elements of a curative nature. This may be 
attributed to (1) a soothing touch and deep sym- 
pathy; (2) electric or fluidic power transmitted by 
imposition of hands ; (3) strong belief in the mind of 
the psychic that he possesses this power; and of 
course (4) faith in the power of the psychic medium 
on the part of the patient. Behind all this the un- 
derlying secret may be found in the fact that the 
psychic has exceptional access to his subjective or 
sub-conscious mind, and is able to put that in opera- 



HEALING AND SPIRIT CONTROL 11 

tion at will and to draw upon its powers. The or- 
dinary person, unable to do this and with little or 
no knowledge of the subjective mind, is astounded 
by what to him is "the mysterious," and is ready to 
believe anything. This alone of course is a tremen- 
dous stimulation to faith. Many phychic persons 
themselves do not understand the character of their 
ability and fall into the popular tradition that it is 
a "spirit" which enables them to perform the un- 
usual. 

It is through the subjective mind that we come 
most closely in touch with the Divine Life within 
us. As that relationship is utilized we are drawing 
directly from the power of God. There is a wonder- 
ful field therefore, for those who will exercise the 
gift with consecration and apart from any "spiritual- 
istic" aspect. 

I know some who have always kept this gift un- 
tainted, and who consequently exercise it with great 
power, and I know others who, after having fallen 
into the popular use, have seen their mistake and 
have chosen the path of the Master. 

Naturally I have had much correspondence with 
those who are involved in the questions, both directly 
as mediums and indirectly as patients, and I have 
tried to make the way plain and show where the 
dividing line lay. Among these there were two 
most interesting correspondents. Each lady was 
a highly developed psychic, but each escaped the 



12 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

lower levels, although close to them, and rose to the 
higher paths and achieved the vision of a wonder- 
ful co-operation with God. 

I feel that it will be of greater interest if this de- 
velopment is presented in letter form; and parts of 
the correspondence are here presented for that pur- 
pose. It certainly will be more enlightening to the 
truth-seeker, for the reason that the personal ele- 
ment must play an important part in any consider- 
ation of the subject. Generalities or dogmatic state- 
ments have little effect in convincing students. 



CHAPTER H 

HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 

The following correspondence was with a lady 
whom we will designate as "Harriet." I had never 
heard of her prior to the receipt of her first letter, 
which follows : 

Two weeks ago I sent for, and obtained "The 
Power To Heal." I am deeply interested in its con- 
tents and the possibilities to heal — which, it implies, 
may be possessed by all who earnestly seek the same. 

After having had tuberculosis for many years, I 
was healed on the 1st of October, last year, in a way 
entirely unpremeditated by me, and I am sure you 
will be interested in hearing about it. 

I had never known anything at all about spirit 
communication, or psychic phenomena, except the lit- 
tle I had gleaned from an occasional article on the 
subject. One day in September I read an article 
referring to automatic writing, and kindred sub- 
jects, and I wondered if I could write automatic- 
ally. I took pad and pencil and sat at the desk. 
I asked : "Is there any way in which I can help my 
lung trouble?" After seventeen minutes by the 
little clock on the desk, my arm felt a current, and 
my pencil began to write, "Yes, by believing you are 
better every day." Other sentences followed, such 
as: "Trust in God." "Have faith in God." "God is 
love." 



14 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

The next day, October first, I again took the pen- 
cil, and asked: "Have you anything else to tell me?" 
At once the message came: — "Yes, place your hand 
on your lung and wait until you feel a strong cur- 
rent pass through your body, and then thank God 
for healing you." I asked, "Shall I do it now?" 

"Yes, and have faith; keep your thought on your 
lung all the time." 

I placed my hand over the lower lobe of my left 
lung where the trouble was, and almost immediately 
my arm began to shake; then my whole body 
trembled violently. Twice my lung inflated very 
noticeably. Then the shock gradually subsided. 

Taking the pencil in hand, I asked: "Is my lung 
healed?" "Yes." "And my heart?" "Yes, now 
have faith!" 

It then wrote in reply to my question, "Who is it 
writing?" "Mother." My mother had a wonderful 
transition just seven years ago. 

You may imagine my joy at my healing, also my 
consternation at the manner by which it was ac- 
complished, since I had never made a study of 
psychic things, and it came as such an unexpected 
blessing. Since this time I have had many beauti- 
ful messages from my mother and a few others — all 
urging faith in God's great love for me, and telling 
me that I can exercise great influence upon others, if 
I have faith in God. Sometimes I am certain that 
my sub-conscious mind directs my pencil, for I find it 
very difficult to keep thoughts from running riot. 
At other times I am equally sure that the messages 
are directed by other intelligences. 

Dr. Wilson, what is your thought on this subject? 
And after the wonderful manner of my healing, how 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 15 

can I ever doubt that spirit communication exists? 
I asked, "Mother, if it really is you, will you write 
in your own handwriting?" Instantly came this 
answer, the writing- changing at once from a large 
free, flowing script, to a very fine old-fashioned type, 
my mother's writing exactly: — "Rather difficult to 
do." 

But after that, when mother purported to be writ- 
ing, she always announced herself by writing: 

"This is mother," in her own hand. Then it 
would frequently lapse back into the large, coarse 
writing. 

Once I said: "Mother if it is you, can you not do 
something to convince me?" And in her very own 
hand she replied, "You must believe for isn't mother 
writing in her own hand?" 

Dr. Miller, the great specialist on tuberculosis, to 
whom I had been going, had given me no encourage- 
ment, except that of just holding my own, by exer- 
cising great care. I had been afflicted so many years 
that it had become chronic. He was non-plussed at 
my healing and said I was "a wonder." 

I certainly have praised God every day since for 
the great blessing. Now, I have been for a long 
time seeking healing through prayer, for two very 
painful bunions, and I know I can get the healing, 
but have not yet been able to accomplish it. If I can 
succeed in this, I believe it will be the only uplift 
necessary in order for me to heal others through 
Christ. You see the other came without any effort 
on my part; a gift pure and simple from the hand 
of God. Now I am working and praying for the 
conscious power of healing through the working of 
faith on my part. Can you give me any help ? 



16 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

Kindly send me the leaflets and any information 
which will be helpful. 

Harriet . 



In reply to the above the Director sent the fol- 
lowing : 

I am very much impressed by your beautiful let- 
ter in which you set forth your healing through 
what you believe was the guidance of your departed 
mother. 

The fact that you had never had any previous ex- 
perience in psychic matters, makes this all the more 
interesting. It is the first case of the kind I have 
heard of and since you have asked my opinion of the 
matter, I shall be very glad to write you as it has 
presented itself to me. 

In the first place, I would state that I believe that 
your healing was accomplished by the spirit of God 
and His power. Everything that I can get from your 
letter points to this, and there does not seem to be 
any exception in the record of Divine guidance 
which you were seeking with a view toward strength- 
ening your faith in God. You were reaching out for 
that power, so that you might appropriate God's full 
healing blessings. It is but natural that the beau- 
tiful results followed. 

That this came to you through automatic writing 
is only a coincidence, as also is the impression on 
your part that the author of this automatic writing 
was your mother. There is nothing unusual in either 
of these incidents. In the first place, the atmosphere 
is pregnant to-day with thoughts relating to psychic 
force, and almost every other person is talking 
about communication with the departed through the 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 17 

Ouija Board, mediums, or automatic writing. The 
latter is undoubtedly the most refined and delicate 
form that these manifestations are taking, and 
would naturally appeal to you ; whereas, other forms 
would be repugnant to you. Your mother was un- 
doubtedly a woman of great faith, and in the seven 
years since her passing, her memory has been very 
precious to you ; and you have felt in some way, from 
time to time, that her spiritual power had not dimin- 
ished. You, yourself are undoubtedly capable of ex- 
ercising great faith and have been impressed by the 
great wave of faith healing now spreading all over 
the United States, and indeed the world. 

It is very natural therefore, that in your longing 
for restoration to health, you should think of your 
mother in connection with God ; of her definite inter- 
est in you, and the possibility of her desire to com- 
municate some help to you because of her presum- 
ably closer relationship with the Divine Father. All 
these thoughts became fused in your mind with the 
result you have presented. 

You are a very sensible woman from the fact that 
you state so plainly : "Sometimes I am certain that 
my sub-conscious mind directs my pencil, for I find 
it very difficult to keep thoughts from running riot. 
At other times, I am equally sure that the mes- 
sages are directed by other intelligences." 

God's Method of Communication 

The answer to this in my mind is, that the whole 
matter lies within our sub-conscious realm. I tried 
to show in my last little book "The Power To Heal," 
that the sub-conscious mind of man is the channel of 
communication between our soul and our conscious 



18 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

mind. God communicates directly with the soul and 
frequently there is much in our sub-conscious mind 
of which we are not conscious. Consequently people 
who feel the urge of new and beautiful thoughts 
coming to them are apt to attribute them to other 
intelligences, whereas, it is the reflection of God's 
great love and light pouring itself upon the soul 
of man, and the soul of man, in turn, endeavoring to 
communicate itself to the conscious mind of the man 
through the medium of the sub-conscious mind. 

The error that people make, unfortunately, is to 
reach out and personify this intelligence, and specify 
some dear one as the author, who is contributing 
these thoughts, and who is the source of this guid- 
ance. When such a tendency is followed, how 
natural it is for the mind of man to visualize the 
mother or the father, who has gone before, whom 
they feel must always be wishing them well, with 
greatest love and tenderness. 

The explanation of the re-production of facsimile 
handwriting of the dear one is very simple. We re- 
member everything very vividly about those whom 
we love and have loved us so well, and it is not at 
all a difficult matter for one in a spirit of ecstacy 
and love, to simulate the handwriting of one whom 
he believes is communicating with him. Remember, 
I do not declare that this is done intentionally. It is 
done by the sub-conscious, in order to satisfy the 
inner yearning, or grief complex, and is a part of the 
innocent self-deception. I have known several other 
cases where men and women were receiving mes- 
sages from mothers and fathers through automatic 
writing, and where after a while, they soon began 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 19 

to write in a manner resembling the handwriting of 
the dear one. 

I believe your guidance came directly from God 
and not directly or indirectly from your mother, ex- 
cepting as her spirit may be a part of the Divine 
Power of God. 

Reasons for Avoidance 

I think it would be a very dangerous thing for us 
to believe or teach otherwise, and it certainly would 
be contrary to the teachings of Jesus, who did all of 
His healing through the Power of God, for the glory 
of His Father. In no instance, do we find that He 
admitted the possibility of communication be- 
tween departed spirits and members of His Kingdom 
in the flesh. On the contrary, in one parable, He 
plainly indicated that it was impossible for a person 
to send back a message to anyone on earth, even for 
the purpose of helping loved ones. (See St. Luke 
16:27.) 

Therefore, I think in placing too great emphasis 
upon individual communication, even from such 
sacred relatives as mothers, we would be departing 
from our Lord's teachings. 

Furthermore, I think it would be fraught with the 
greatest harm if too much credence were placed 
on communications of this kind, for the reason that 
many men and women might endeavor to secure 
help from their mothers and fathers, and failing to 
have this experience, either by their lack of faith or 
inability to visualize a spiritual power, would despair 
of the continued life of their dear one, and lose even 
faith in God, because that dear one was not per- 
mitted to help them in their distress. 



20 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

I do believe in psychic gifts, and it is likely that 
you are so blessed. Such gifts are still a great 
mystery. They seem to be bestowed upon those 
who are capable of great faith. I should therefore 
suggest that if you use automatic writing at all in 
the future, you limit it entirely to messages as com- 
ing directly from God. In my own prayers and medi- 
tations, I have this experience frequently, when 
words and thoughts are given me that I could not 
possibly get in any other way. 

I have written you very frankly, since you have 
requested it. I hope since you have asked for guid- 
ance, that you will feel 1 have guided you aright. I 
prayed very earnestly that I might be guided to 
help you. 

Faithfully yours in Christ, 

Henry B. Wilson, Director. 

Within a few days the lady responded as follows : 
I thank you for the interest you have shown in my 
experience, and the time and thought you have given 
to your answer. 

I have never doubted for an instant that my heal- 
ing was accomplished by Divine power. I have 
never ceased to praise God for it. The influence 
pointing the way, has been the only element of un- 
certainty in my mind. Whether it is another spirit 
or my own, which directed me in the healing, is of 
minor importance. I am healed, and God has healed 
me and this I know. However, my mind is of an in- 
vestigating turn, and I always desire to know the 
why of things. This I can say with assurance: 
Whatever the intelligence which guides these psychic 
phenomena, a wonderful blessing has come into my 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 21 

life and into the lives of my family, through its 
manifestations. We have a consciousness of new 
power. If it is, as you believe, the operation of my 
soul upon my conscious mind, through the medium 
of my sub-conscious mind, it is still a wonderful, 
beautiful thing — a power which is God-given and 
which every human being might have as a free gift 
of God, were he to seek it — not manif ested perhaps 
through visible writing, but written upon the mind 
and heart. As you say: "words and thoughts are 
given me." How much more beautiful would be the 
lives of men and women, were they to grasp this 
wonderful thought, and allow God, through the 
medium of the soul, to direct their every thought and 
action. 

When I first began to write I asked : 

"What is the power employed to move my pencil ?" 

"Electricity, the power used by God to hold the 
universe from falling into chaos" was the answer. 

My elder daughter and myself have had other in- 
teresting manifestations than writing. At her re- 
quest we took a heavy craftsman table one evening, 
and sitting on opposite sides of it, placed our hands 
upon the edge. Very soon our hands shot together 
at the centre, fingers interlocking, and then the table 
began to move back and forth, drawing us, chairs 
also, right along. It moved with great speed and 
power. After a little, the index finger of her left 
hand began to write rapidly on the surface of the 
table this warning: 

"You and your mother must not work together too 
long; you both possess great power of a different 
kind, and you might receive a shock. Miller." 

One calling himself "Wm. Miller" had been writing 
through my hand from the beginning. I asked: 



22 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

"What has the moving of tables to do with spirit 
communication?" and it wrote, "Just to show that I 
am here and to manifest my power." 

Now it may be all a trick of our sub-conscious 
minds, I do not know, but I do wonder if so, what a 
strange thing to be able to call such wonderful power 
to hand. Do not think that we are carried away 
with this thing. We have never moved the table 
but twice, along in the first day of conscious power. 
We are all well balanced and simply want to know 
what it is. 

This morning I sat at my desk having a quiet 
time of meditation and prayer. I was reading over 
and thinking upon your letter and I said : "Oh God, 
if it be my soul through which Thy guidance is com- 
ing to me thus, (my hand had been writing beautiful 
messages of faith and love and trust in God) make 
me to know it. Is it the operation of my own soul, 
seeking, through Divine power, to guide me into all 
truth?" 

My left hand was over my eyes. My right hand 
held my pen. After a moment my hand moved to 
the side of the pad and gently laying the pencil aside, 
it moved over to the side of the desk and picked up 
your little book which was turned face downward at 
the third chapter "The Soul in Action." My hand 
carried the book over, turned it right side up, and 
ran down the lines of the first page. Again and 
again it pointed to different sentences, in answer to 
mental inquiries on my part, and the answers were 
most satisfying. 

My elder daughter has a very beautiful contralto 
voice, with a wonderful range. The chief difficulty 
in its development has been her self consciousness. 
After she became conscious of the new power, she 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 23 

began to draw upon it for overcoming this obstacle. 
Her teacher and all others who have heard her sing 
since, have spoken of the remarkable development 
in her voice in the last months, so while psychic 
manifestations might be harmful to people easily 
unbalanced mentally, they have been wonderfully 
helpful to us. 

Service for Christ has been the ruling motive of 
my life since I was fourteen, but a new element of 
devotion, a new sense of nearness to God is now 
mine, and an intense longing to be of service to hu- 
manity, through God's power made manifest in me. 
This is the great thing. What the influence is, which 
guides these psychic manifestations, is of secon- 
dary importance. My hand has written several 
times: 

"You must use your influence to help others ; you 
can exert a great influence for God upon the lives of 
others, etc." 

"Harriet" 

The reader is referred to this chapter to be found 
on page 32 in "The Power to Heal." It will shed 
much light upon the questions asked by the corres- 
pondent. The incident is of more than ordinary in- 
terest for the reason that during the past few years 
mediums have been claiming to find answers to ques- 
tions in various books. It is a late development and 
is known as "Cross Correspondence." The spirit is 
supposed to lead to answers in books. 

It is needless to say that I was very happy that 
the lady had accepted the guidance which would 
lead her to a closer and more direct communion 



24 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

with God. But this was not the end. A few months 
later I was asked to give an address on healing in 
the city where she lived and notified her that if she 
could be present, I should be glad to go home with 
her for a visit after the lecture. 

The visit proved a most delightful and interesting 
one. I recognized in her at once a personality 
possessed of psychic power combined with a frank- 
ness, a simplicity and a spirituality that were quite 
evident She recounted her experience of healing 
and said that at the time she felt a distinct power, 
like a warm, living, vibrating wave going through 
her. 

I questioned her at great length about the intel- 
ligence who had signed himself "William Miller" in 
the writing. She did not recall ever having known 
any one by that name. I asked particularly if she 
had tried to determine who he was or where he had 
lived. She said she had put these questions to him 
and that the answer had come, giving his former 
street address in a mid-Western city. She had 
written to that address and also to the Postmaster 
in that city, but the information given in the 
writing was erroneous in every respect. Harriet 
stated that after this she did not place much de- 
pendence upon the messages signed "Miller." I 
told her I thought the giving of the address was 
sub-conscious trickery. The conscious mind was 
demanding something and the sub-conscious felt it 
must comply. 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 25 

I may add here that 1 have had several similar 
experiences with messages purported to be written 
by spirits giving names and addresses and in no 
instance have I found that they were anything 
but fictitious. In one instance there was no such 
street in the city named. 

With regard to the automatic writing, it was pro- 
duced by her in two forms; one a large angular 
script, and the other a most unusual form of large 
letters, written as if they were traced by an electric 
pencil vibrating very rapidly. When the writing 
took the latter form Harriet felt as if a strong elec- 
tric current had been turned into her arm and that 
the continual vibrations in the letter formation were 
produced without any conscious effort on her part. 
If these messages were long she felt very much ex- 
hausted afterwards. With the ordinary writing, the 
exhaustion was not so marked. I asked her if she 
could use the writing at will. She replied in the 
affirmative, but stated that it was easier and more 
spontaneous at some times than at others. 

I asked her to write for me if she could do so 
easily. We had had prayers and asked God's blessing 
on our visit. She rested quietly for a few minutes 
with eyes closed and hand on her head and pencil 
resting on paper. Then the vibrations entered her 
arm and she wrote with the greatest rapidity, pro- 
ducing large wavering letters of remarkable forma- 
tion. This was the message : 



26 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

"God will guide you into all Truth if you will but 
surrender yourself perfectly to Him." 

One or two sentences of a similar character fol- 
lowed. She did not go into a trance of any kind, or 
change color or show any marked or mysterious agi- 
tations. Her face merely assumed an expression of 
deep spiritual emotion, and when she finished she 
smiled as a normal, spiritually-minded woman would, 
and handed me the paper. She then showed me 
many sheets of these messages that had come to 
her, sometimes unasked and others in answer to 
direct questions seeking guidance. 

She said that many friends had asked her and her 
daughter to take up table tipping and get raps, etc., 
but she felt it would be a wrong use of the power. 
She did not know what it was, but felt she had re- 
ceived the truth in answer to her question that it 
was a form of electricity and a direct gift of God. 
She said she had been much impressed by my letter 
to her with regard to the character of the communi- 
cation and the source. 

With respect to communications from her mother, 
I felt that the impulse for such originated with her 
and presented arguments brought out in other parts 
of this book, why knowledge of earthly conditions 
on the part of the departed would be a most deplor- 
able state. 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 27 

A Glimpse of True Communication 

I felt that any conscious or sub-conscious longing 
on our part for such communication could be fully 
gratified during the time of our consciousness of the 
Presence of God, or the Presence of the Spirit of 
Jesus. 

During such precious moments we would know 
that our dear ones were enveloped in the same love 
that is enfolding us and consequently we would be 
sharing alike that great Presence, so that spiritually, 
and spiritually only, we might feel and know the 
bonds of love were only stronger grown. Those who 
live in Him must always have an experience of con- 
tact with Perfect Love. What more could one wish 
than this. Is there more to be desired in this world 
or in the realm beyond than this? When once we 
have this experience, we will not seek for communi- 
cation apart from the Divine Presence. If we be- 
lieve they are with God, who is Love, to seek Him 
and find Him, is to find them; to rest in Him is to 
rest with them in soul union. 

I bade her seek and follow the Light and the 
Truth at any cost and felt that in doing so she would 
find perfect Love and Peace. With prayers for 
strength and guidance in the quest, our visit closecr. 

About ten days later I was rejoiced to receive the 
following letter from her: 

I hesitate to write you again, knowing that your 
correspondence is large and your time much occu- 



28 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

pied. However, I am sure you will be glad to know 
that our conversation on Friday last, as well as your 
talk on healing in St. James Church, have been won- 
derfully helpful to me in several ways. 

In the first place, I have decided to accept your 
theory in regard to my psychic gift. In the future 
I shall use it, believing it to be the direct guidance 
of God through my soul and the medium of my sub- 
conscious mind, keeping my mind open and unbiased, 
however, for proof of spirit communication. It is 
very satisfactory to me to have arrived at this con- 
clusion, for I believe I can advance more surely and 
quickly in the line of work to which I believe God 
has called me. 

Proceeding upon this theory, I sat at my desk on 
Saturday, and after a deep, sincere prayer of conse- 
cration to God, I asked for a message to my con- 
scious mind, through the medium of my sub-con- 
scious and at once my hand began to write wonder- 
fully — fluently — most beautiful thoughts and direc- 
tions for the guidance of my life. The beginning was 
worded in rather a strange way. 

"How do you manage to have a hall-mark upon 
yourself?" 

"Why do you ask that?" I asked; and it wrote: 

"Well, you seem to have already won the con- 
fidence of many through your healing. (Let me 
say here that I never have used the word "hall 
mark" that I remember of, so this was not dictated 
by my conscious mind, I feel certain) . Proceeding, 
my hand wrote very rapidly: 

'When you really love God is when you love Him 
above all others. When God enters the human heart 
there is no room for smallness or pettiness of any 
kind. You must fully consecrate yourself, your 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 29 

heart and mind and intellect, in fact all that you 
have and are, to Christ, and then God can and will 
work marvelous things through you." (Here I 
prayed again, reconsecrating myself to God). 

Then the writing continued: — "Just as Christ 
went about doing good and healing the sick, so may 
you, if you live true to your consecration." 

"I am your soul, and I will lead you into all truth 
through Jesus Christ our Lord, if you will live close 
to God and listen to His dictates. Keep your heart 
and mind on Christ Jesus and dwell much with Him 
in meditation and quietness." 

"Awake my soul, put forth every effort to grow 
into the glorious inheritance of those who are the 
children of God in deed and in truth." 

"Jesus is the only true and loving Saviour. He 
alone can keep you from falling. Keep your mind 
and heart fixed steadfastly on Him, and He shall 
give you the desire of your heart. May you and 
yours ever have the knowledge that you bear the 
hall-mark of the Saviour of the Universe, and then 
God can wonderfully use you and your dear ones for 
His honor and glory, and for the great blessing of 
others." 

"God and Christ, Father and Son, and the Holy 
Spirit, may be with you and about you, guiding and 
directing your life. Truly you are blessed of God." 

Here my hand went back and underscored the 
words of the last sentence. There were a few other 
sentences similar to some I have written. The very 
fact that my hand wrote these sentences so readily 
— and in a different way, somehow — from most of 
my communications, seemed convincing to me that I 
had possibly made a wise decision. I succeeded bet- 
ter than ever before, in keeping my conscious mind 



30 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

a total blank. Only as my hand began to write the 
word, would it flash into my mind. 

I have written at some length, for I believed you 
would be interested. 

As God opens the way I am telling others of the 
work of healing carried on by the Society of The 
Nazarene. The sister of whom I spoke to you, was 
with us on Saturday. She has a dear friend who 
has been ill for five or six years, first tuberculosis 
and now rheumatism. A girl or woman, rather of 
about thirty I think. She has tried everything, but 
makes no progress toward health, and at last in 
desperation is thinking of adopting Christian Sci- 
ence, and wrote to my sister for advice. 

I gave my sister a copy of "The Nazarene." I 
also told her of your talk on healing, according to 
the methods of Jesus, and advised her to present 
these thoughts to her friend, as being more Chris- 
tian, more appealing to a true child of God. I shall 
write her of my healing, and I do hope she may be 
so led of God that the blessing of healing may be 
hers. 

It was my privilege yesterday to also drop a seed 
of truth along this line in the heart of a friend who 
has never seriously considered the real possibility of 
healing in this day, as Christ did of old, and so Dr. 
Wilson, the little ripple set in motion by your cast- 
ing of the pebble of truth, is growing, expanding, 
reaching out, and with God's blessing will continue 
to touch lives here and until it reaches the shores of 
eternity. May God bless you and your wonderful 
work. 

I wish I could show you — tell you — make you com- 
prehend in some way — the wonderful newness of 
life, the blessing which has come into my life and 



HEALED THROUGH A MESSAGE 31 

into the lives of my dear ones, since my healing, 
and the subsequent knowledge of a power, hitherto 
undreamed of, which it is ours to command — "Be- 
hold all things have become new." 

Yours in Christ Jesus, 

Harriet . 

I am sure that every person who is truly interest- 
ed in the Master's method of healing, will rejoice 
after reading the above letter. It will explain with- 
out doubt the purpose of this book, and my reason 
for wishing that those who possess psychic gifts 
might be led to consecrate them in the highest way 
and utilize them aright, My whole position is shown 
I think in the reply I made to this last letter, which 
was as follows: 

I am deeply grateful to feel that my interpre- 
tation of your messages and my suggestions have 
had such wonderful results. 

When I read your first letter, I was deeply im- 
pressed by the fact that your guidance was direct 
from God, and that the popular wave of automatic 
writing was the cause of your confusion. I also 
felt that this revelation could be made plain to 
you. As I talked with you on my visit, I felt 
even more convinced that the power came from 
God and that the evidences of communication 
from other personalities were very weak and in- 
cidental. Your decision, and your happiness over 
the matter corroborates my first revelation and 
I shall give thanksgiving to God that you have 
been granted now what I believe is your true 
vision with regard J to His (direct communication 



32 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

with you. You have followed the leading of the 
spirit also in consecrating this gift in its purity 
to His service. I am sure that it will grow in 
wonder and beauty as time goes on and also in 
proportion as you guard it, and keep it pure 
Later, it will be so strong that no extraneous 
elements will affect it. I feel that many bless- 
ings are in store for you and that you will in 
time be able to demonstrate this power to others 
for their good and to the glory of His name. 



CHAPTER III 
THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 

From another correspondent there has come a 
series of letters which reveal the consecration of this 
gift from childhood. Very strong psychic power is 
disclosed and at the same time there is the spiritual 
intuition to disregard it along lower levels and to 
use it only in the highest way. The letters are given 
in parts but they clearly show the struggle and the 
victory. Her letter which first touched on the sub- 
ject is as follows: 

I thank you much for your letter. It is a great 
happiness to receive confirmation of one's inmost 
belief in Christ from another. It is more of the 
same "old, old story, ever new," especially as to "The 
Presence," which is the most real experience I have 
known in a long life of most varied ones. The revela- 
tion of Jesus Christ" has been to me not one event, 
but continuous, and the "rejoicing with exceeding 
joy," as I realized the truth of His assurance when 
I "entered the cloud" and heard "It is I, be not 
afraid." 

We are "called first of all to the fellowship of 
Jesus Christ." So much else calls us ; so much that 
is very precious to us, that we do not know how to 
follow only Him. We are so slow to learn that that 
very place of preciousness is His place, where He 
would abide, that if we are ever to know Him we 
must yield it to Him, all unknowing that all that 



34 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

we give to Him "He returns to us double," in the 
very place of that which we have called loss. 

Even our most valued friendships, our dearest, 
we find in Him anew, the dearer for His Presence — 
uplifted infinitely. 

Christ the Source 

The friends who have passed into the Unseen, 
"Come with Him, ,, and we know them more living 
than ever, who are called dead. We know them liv- 
ing forever, and have dear joy of companionship in 
their "everlasting felicity" without a word spoken. 

Partakers we are of the inheritance of the saints 
in light, the Light of Life, the Joy of "The Pres- 
ence." In seeking Him we find ourselves "fellow 
citizens with the saints" in a conscious communion 
with them. 

This is not Spiritualism. One who knows the 
"Voice of the Shepherd" and hears His "Follow Me," 
recognizes at once the "voice of the stranger," and 
him they cannot follow. They never seek a mes- 
sage, except from Christ Himself. 

In "Forbes Robinson's Letters to His Friends," I 
was glad to find like experience. 

Dear Dr. Wilson, I hesitate to speak except to you, 
of messages received at very rare times, only once 
or twice, and not for myself, but in aid of others — 
and entirely unsought, but not to be mistaken, as 
the help was received. 

A book came to me yesterday from a friend for my 
reading. "War Letters From A Living Dead Man." 
I think it may be a mixture of Theosophy and Spir- 
itualism. 



THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 35 

Christ is the only touchstone that I have, to meet 
what is not true. 

I suppose I am to tell or write my friend the im- 
pression I receive from it. I am not a "writer" ex- 
cept as I have and have had a rather large corre- 
spondence for a very private person. But I wish you 
to use, as you may wish, whatever I write that may 
help to restore the faith of the early Christians in 
Christ's resurrection "power in heaven and in earth" 
— The Presence. 

In Him, Anna . 

My request for detailed information regarding the 
messages she had received and her method in keep- 
ing her gift untainted brought the following: 

Your letter of the seventeenth inst. brought me 
the happiness of true fellowship. Meantime I have 
been ill, in bed several days, and have newly appre- 
ciated my membership in the Society of Nazarene, 
for as I was praying, as usual, for every member of 
the Society, the glad thought came that I was being 
prayed for by each one, and in true joy of fellowship 
my faith was greatly strengthened and soon the 
word came: "Jesus Christ healeth thee," and I 
"arose straightway," in thanksgiving rejoicing 
greatly. 

The Presence is in the word. "The entrance of 
Thy Word giveth Light— the Light of Life." Truly, 
I am as glad of Thy Word as "one that findeth great 
spoil." 

Every experience that reveals Christ nearer is 
true and quickens us for His loving service, 
"Straightway." 

It is the truth of the power of Christ's Presence, 



36 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

that I would like to show in the experience of the 
touch unseen that I have known. I will tell you as 
I can. 

The very sudden death of a friend, by accident, 
our almost life long friend, from whom T was ex- 
pecting a letter at the time, covered me with a pall 
of darkness, with not one ray of light. I was in a 
Southern city, closing up an old home and assisting 
in defending it from a lawsuit, and caring for the 
only one left in the home, an invalid. I went on 
mechanically, as if I were a machine, attending to 
everything needing me, until the morning of the 
third day. I was coming down the long stairway 
from my room, ready to go out upon business con- 
nected with the suit, when I was stopped as if a 
hand were laid on me. I hestitated, and then went 
on a few steps, when the impression came again 
stronger, still. After a moment, I went on, when it 
came the third time, and I was stopped and held in 
wondering silence. I was alone, saw no one, but 
suddenly the darkness was a great light, for I was 
conscious of the living presence of my friend, as I 
had been a week or two before when we said "good 
bye" at the foot of the stairway. Then, came a 
message. I heard no voice, but it was as certain 
as if I had ; as if I saw and heard a person say : "Get 
my last two letters, and write to Alice," (a sister in 
a distant city) . That was all, except the wonderful 
joy of living, loving presence, that was one with the 
only invisible Presence I had ever known (Christ.) 
I could not separate them. I obeyed, returned, and 
went to a trunk in my room, where in a compart- 
ment lay two letters. I had thrown a piece of linen 
over them. Without lifting it, I reached underneath 



THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 37 

and drew out just those two letters. One had a few 
lines from Arnold's "Death in Arabia." 

"Be ye certain all is love, 
Viewed from Allah's throne above. 
Be ye stout of heart and come 
Bravely onward to your home." 

I wrote at once, as Christ gave me the words, and 

soon had a message that my letter had brought her 
the first comfort that had reached her in days of 
semi-consciousness. We have corresponded ever 
since, but it is only recently that I have told her how 
I came to write. 

There has never been any darkness of death for 
me since that time. All is Life! 

This was more than twenty years ago. 

The Childhood Experience 

Some years before, at the time of the greatest 
renunciation of my life, following a vision of "The 
Presence" in my childhood I heard: 

"Take a pencil and write. I can tell you everything 
you wish to know." 

Not knowing yet, fully, that it was "Jesus only" 
in that "high place of visitation from the Living 
God," that I needed, and, not understanding, I yield- 
ed, and cried for deliverance from the strangeness. 
The sudden revelation was distressing ; as I was still 
suffering it, suddenly it was gone! On the paper 
under the pencil in my hand were words of the ap- 
proaching death of my father and that I must go 
home at once, purporting to be from an uncle who 
had died not long before. I did not go until my work 
was done, for I was helping one who needed Christ 



38 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

greatly. My father's death occurred some months 
later when I was with him. 

Since the message on the stairway there have, at 
times, come to me others, when I am reading, as if 
my friends were speaking. But that way is not 
"The Way/' and I give no heed to them. 

It is simply in following Christ, that I find myself 
more and more conscious of those whom I no longer 
see, thanking God for them, and praying for them, 
but I do not try to know. Christ's Presence satis- 
fies me for them and for myself, and I find always 
that the highest friendship I have known has grown 
and is growing infinitely. 

This is a very long letter to send you, yet it is 
the merest outline. All, and always, "With faith and 
love which is in Christ Jesus," Yours, Anna. 

The Childhood Vision 

The childhood vision referred to was told in a 
subsequent letter as follows: 

I first knew that He was a living Presence, when I 
was not more than ten years old. I had done some- 
thing, for which my conscience accused me, through 
the day, and was full of fears in the dark as I tried 
to go to sleep; the door had been left ajar, when the 
light was taken down from the room after I had been 
safely tucked in. As my sorrow and fear grew, I 
was suddenly aware of a form just within the door, 
of great dignity — the dignity of goodness, for it 
smote me and yet drew me, as I went toward it sink- 
ing lower and lower, until I was face down at the 
feet. Then I felt myself drawn upward gently, my 
face turned back, and one of love such as I had never 



THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 39 

dreamed could be, was looking into mine, and I was 
filled with joy unspeakable. I remember no feature, 
but the love is with me still, and I was never afraid 
of the dark after that. I could not go or do, when 
that Presence was not, so I learned that I do not 
need opinions or doctrines, only to follow Him. And 
through many years, little by little, I learned that to 
know Christ it to be healed in soul and body, and to 
realize that He is everywhere present in all things. 
And He is the Word — we must read it — it feeds us. 
We commune with God by the Word — I pray as I 
read in all things for all. In the love of Christ, 

Faithfully yours, Anna. 

Psychic Without the Presence 

A few days later this letter came to me : 

Your letters define things for me, as I much like 
to have done — "Rightly dividing the word of Truth." 
I notice that you spoke of a sister's experience in 
one of your letters, and of the using of her psychic 
power in having messages "direct from God." 

I did not understand at first, but what you say of 
"consecrating" such power, enlightens me. Yet I 
had no consciousness of doing so. It was all the 
power of "The Presence," guiding me but I can 
see that our psychic power can be used by the Holy 
Spirit as can any other that we possess. 

I can recall several experiences that were, I sup- 
pose, "psychic," without "The Presence," that I 
shrunk from and escaped. 

When I was about twenty years old. my brother 
brought a friend home with him, and in the evening 
we were seeking diversion of some kind. My brother 



40 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

mentioned that we could have a seance, and brought 
forward a little table. His friend who was supposed 
to be the medium, disclaimed any belief in "spirits" 
but said he had the power. Four of us laid hands on 
the table, my brother, a sister, the operator and my- 
self. The "rappings" began immediately, under my 
hands mostly. 

"What do you wish to know? the operator asked. 

"From whom was Anna's letter that she had from 
some soldier to-day." 

"Was I willing they should know?" he asked me. 

"Certainly" I said, as I was only teasing in not 
telling them before. 

The name in full was spelled out by raps, and no 
one could possibly have known it but myself. 

(Note. This is an exceptionally clear cut instance 
of communication between two highly developed sub- 
jective minds.) 

Later, Planchette came. A young cousin was try- 
ing to "make it go" without success. She asked me 
to put my hands on with hers, and away it almost 
flew, answering all sorts of questions, truly and 
falsely. 

It took me away, all this, from my early vision of 
"The Presence" of Christ Himself, and I always 
thought of it, not realizing then that He was with 
me "all the days," to do in me, and through me, and 
by me, all His will. Later the full truth dawned. 
And so I could have nothing to do with so called 
"spirits." 

I have been much with the sick all my life. 

"Oh! don't take your hand away," one in great 
pain would say ; and soon relief would come. Since I 
have come to know that "Jesus Christ healeth," as 
truly as when He was visible, I have known some 



THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 41 

wonderful healings, yielding myself to Him, for 
others, and for myself. 

You well know how the Society of the Nazarene 
appealed to me. The fellowship and communion and 
"The Power To Heal" increased in me most wonder- 
fully as I realize more and more that I am one with 
them in seeking "Jesus only." 

It is as if I were in the very atmosphere of the 
early days of the Church, and breathed in LIFE, the 
Joy of living. 

God bless you with "Life more abundant," and 
opened doors. 

Gratefully, Anna. 

TRUE "AUTOMATIC" WRITING 

In leading men and women away from "automatic" 
writing as dictated by a departed spirit, we do not 
mean to leave them alone in a cold materialistic 
world, and to confine them solely to their intellectual 
education and their material environment. To do so 
would be to deprive them of the exercise of that 
inner inspiration seen in poets and musicians and to 
set at naught the appeal to the Muse; and the 
marvelous results accomplished under the influence 
of what is termed the Divine afflatus. Not only 
those who wrote Sacred Scriptures, but many poets 
as well have ascribed the message that came to them 
as from the Spirit of God, and it is to this source we 
would lead those who seek inspiration from the 
Sprit world. 



42 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

Sir Lewis Morris in his poem 'The Verse" ex- 
presses this thought very beautifully : — 

And when his voice is hushed and dumb, 

The flame burnt out, the glory dead, 
He feels a thrill of wonder come 

At that which his poor tongue has said ; 
And thinks of each diviner line — 
"Only the hand that wrote was mine." 
A modern instance of this form of inspiration was 
revealed in a letter from Miss Churchill, the author 
of "Spirit Power." Following a review of her book 
in "The Nazarene" Miss Churchill commented on 
the article as follows : 

The Influence of The "Spirit" in Writing 

"Your extracts from the book were very pleasing 
to me, and they fitted in so admirably with the article 
that they made clear the points the short paper had 
omitted. 

"I was so conscious of the Spirit's help in the writ- 
ing of the book that it has always seemed more of 
an impersonal than a personal production. However, 
I do not mean automatic writing or anything ap- 
proaching mediumistic work, but rather the illum- 
inating, clarifying, stimulating power of His Spirit 
that brought experiences to my remembrance and 
made clear the connection between the result and 
the blind, groping applicaton of His power. 

"Some readers are rather inclined to put the 
writer of such a book on a pedestal, but I am not 
one whit of the "pedestal type." To the on-looker it 



THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 43 

is a busy life filled with work in the home, in school, 
and helping my sister in her business whenever she 
needs me. Yet in the midst of it all there are many 
opportunities for personal service to others in many 
walks of life; and what looks like a prosaic,, hum- 
drum routine, is really bright with adventures in 
applying "Spirit Power" pedagogically, socially, and 
in the very heavy business experiences of the war 
and reconstruction period." 

This statement, coming first hand from one, who 
is still with us in the flesh, and who makes all things 
around her sacramental by the application of God's 
Spirit Power upon them, should be a source of in- 
spiration to everyone. Unfortunately there are some 
who think that any real experience with the Spirit 
of God must lead them to detachment from the 
common things of life, and that they must be dif- 
ferent." This mistaken idea prevents many from 
grasping the real truth. There are too many Mar- 
tha's, who think it quite right to say: "Well you 
pray and I'll cook," as if the two acts were exclusive 
or contradictory. The experience of God's Presence 
and the influence of His Spirit, is likely to be truest 
when it finds expression in normal channels. 

Conventional Automatic Writing 

In his book, "The Law of Psychic Phenomena," 
Hudson gives the scientific side of automatic writ- 
ing. That aspect will be of interest at this point: 

"Automatic writing," he says, "consists of hold- 



44 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

ing a pencil in the hand and letting it write. The 
subjective mind assumes control of the muscles and 
nerves of the arm and hand, and propels the pencil, 
the objective mind meantime being perfectly quies- 
cent, and often totally oblivious of what is being 
written. A smaller number of persons can acquire 
this faculty than either of the others. 

"We assume, of course, that it is the subjective 
mind of the medium that directs the pencil. The 
same laws govern the manif estations, and the intel- 
ligence is hedged about by the same limitations. 
Suggestion plays the same subtle role, and the 
knowledge of the subjects of the communications 
is limited by that of the medium and those with 
whom he is in telepathic rapport. The entity that 
guides the pencil almost invariably assumes to be a 
spirit, and its communications necessarily conform 
to the character assumed. The reason of this is 
obvious when we consider the fact that automatic 
writing has always been associated with the idea of 
spirit communion. The universality of this idea con- 
stitutes an all-potent suggestion which cannot 
easily be overcome. Even though the medium may 
profess to be a sceptic on the subject of spirit inter- 
course, nevertheless he is dominated by that sug- 
gestion, in the absence of any definite counter-sug- 
gestion. Obviously, a counter-suggestion which 
could overcome the hypothesis of spirit intercourse 
must be in the form of a theory which appeals more 
strongly to the reason of the medium than the sug- 
gestion of spirit intercourse. In the present state 
of popular opinion on the subject of spiritism it 
would be difficult to find a medium whose subjective 
mind would not be dominated by the popular 
hypothesis." 



THE GIFT FULLY CONSECRATED 46 

As I have stated, the average person using auto- 
matic writing is dominated by the popular tradition 
of spirit intercourse. Yet it is a great joy to record 
the fact that many, like the correspondent presented 
here, have accepted the higher theory, certainly as 
on© which has appealed more strongly to reason. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE SEAMY SIDE OF SPIRITUALISM 

To the average person spiritualism makes a strong 
appeal to a deep seated longing; one that is almost 
instinctive in the race: i. e., the desire for immor- 
tality and the yearning for some message from the 
other side. Lay calls it a "universal death complex." 
This is greatly emphasized in those who cannot over- 
come grief after the loss of a dear one or who have 
been bereaved suddenly. The loss of so many 
thousands of men in the Great War is the outstand- 
ing reason for the present great revival in spiritual- 
ism. Those who take up the quest along conven- 
tional spiritualistic lines, soon find themselves com- 
pelled to make very unusual mental readjustments 
and to accept conditions which at other times and 
places would not harmonize with the exercise of 
common-sense and level headed thinking. It is my 
purpose to take up these conditions and follow them 
to a logical conclusion. 

Some might say that in introducing logic I shall 
have to dispense with faith. I deny this. I have 
ever compared every development of my faith with 
the pure forms of logic and it has served to cor- 
roborate my faith, strengthen it and inspire it to 
still higher reaches. 



THE SEAMY SIDE OF SPIRITUALISM 47 

Immortality Not Involved 

Nor must the present issue be confused with the 
subject of immortality. If my belief in immortality 
was compelled to rest upon the revelations of the 
so-called life beyond, as presented by spiritual 
mediums even of the highest type, I should have no 
belief at all in immortality and in some instances I 
should be happy to pray for "silence and the unend- 
ing night." 

My belief in immortality is based upon the teach- 
ings of the Master. I require no signs or wonders to 
verify all that He taught. 

As I have stated in the previous chapters, I can- 
not accept the theory that spirits of the departed 
are able to communicate with their dear one, ex- 
cepting through the medium of what might be term- 
ed spiritual intuition, and in direct connection with 
the Presence of God, or the conscious presence of 
Christ. This may be in the form of a message, 
flashed on the conscious mind, from the soul, through 
the sub-conscious (spirit of man) . In its true form 
it cannot partake of the nature of a "message" 
having to do with material things, for the soul of 
the departed has passed beyond all such relation- 
ship. 

If there is a memory of things undone, or a great 
wrong unrighted, the sorrow is confined to that soul, 
for the world is full of tragedy, and grief and con- 
fusion, because of the failure of someone to make 



48 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

the truth known before his death. Certainly if a 
father or a mother or false friends were permitted 
to come back and make things right, they would 
appear in large numbers and, save many innocent 
ones from impoverishment and grief and long con- 
tinued suffering and anxiety. 

Spirits Cannot Witness 

Nor can we accept even in the slightest degree, 
the theory that the souls of the departed are per- 
mitted to be near the living, clad in spiritual repro- 
ductions of earthly garments, to witness the events 
of their lives and to communicate with them on 
various aspects of their material activity. 

What man would ever go wrong if his mother 
could appear to him or communicate with him ; what 
girl would ever fall into degradation and give herself 
up to a life of shameless debauchery and crime, If a 
mother or father had the opportunity to exercise 
their spiritual presence and control upon her? 

Some may interpose here, that the spirits of the 
dear ones are trying to communicate with such per- 
sons, but because of lack of development of the lat- 
ter and lack of real thought on the subject, they 
are unable to establish communication, which would 
be so helpful. This sounds plausible. We do not 
admit it as a possibility for it opens the way to a 
most deplorable situation. 



THE SEAMY SIDE OF SPIRITUALISM 49 

The Horror of Such a System 

It is a very pretty fancy to picture the spirit of a 
mother bending over a sleeping child, or hovering 
near a child at play, but what of that spirit when 
that child rushes into danger, to be horrribly crush- 
ed under falling walls, or to be burned ; to suffer un- 
told agonies, to be carried off by some brute in 
human form and horribly mutilated and rendered 
worse than dead. These are daily occurrences on 
this planet of ours. They do not make pleasant 
reading for anyone engaged in spiritual development, 
but they are facts we have to face when we are 
seeking truth, and when we are endeavoring to guard 
our spiritual lives from thoughts and theories which 
would be harmful to them. There are wrongs and 
sufferings visited daily upon boys and girls, men 
and women, that are too terrible to be told; and 
which befall them in many cases through no fault of 
their own. 

Picture then, if you will, the souls of the mothers 
and fathers of these victims, viewing the scene of 
suffering, yet unable to raise a hand, give a message, 
or to perform a single act that would save the dear 
one or ease the mental or physical agony! 

It is related that Nero, for the gratification of his 
horrible pleasure in inflicting and witnessing agony, 
frequently had children tortured in plain view of 
their parents, who were so chained that they were 
compelled to witness all that transpired. He did the 



50 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

same with parents in front of their children. The 
very spirit of man grows faint at the mere thought 
of such a horror. 

Yet men and women glibly tell us they believe 
that the souls of the departed are ever near us, 
watching us and desiring to communicate with us. 
Such persons do not realize that they are construct- 
ing a system, which would place God, the Creator of 
that system, in a class with Nero. For what more 
horrible agony could the soul undergo than to see 
such suffering as we have suggested and then be so 
bound by spiritual barriers that it would be unable 
either to prevent the castastrophe or relieve the sub- 
sequent agony. 

It is not a very pleasant task to compare Nero 
and God, but the comparison is not ours. We are 
forced to make it. It is the natural corollary of the 
theory that this world is an open book to all the de- 
parted. It is a dilemma which cannot be avoided. 
It renders God the author of a hereafter which con- 
tains pangs of hell more refined and cruel than any 
revivalist ever dared to present to a primitive peo- 
ple for the purpose of frightening them into heaven. 

When we are tempted to paint mental pictures of 
our dear ones being near us and granting us sweet 
companionship ; and when perhaps we may be striv- 
ing for some token or message from them for which 
our heart may yearn, let us realize exactly what this 
theory entails. 



THE SEAMY SIDE OF SPIRITUALISM 51 

To follow such tendencies is not an evidence of 
love, but a weak exercise of a mere sentimental 
emotion. It is degenerating, not uplifting. It is 
weakening mentally and spiritually, not strengthen- 
ing. 

Communication Through God 

When we desire to think of our dear ones, we 
should think of them only in connection with God, 
and the presence of Christ and thus we will think of 
them in highest terms of pure love. 

Those are the only terms through which we can 
possibly reach them; the only medium through 
which we may communicate a message of personal 
love. It must move from our souls through the 
great soul or spirit of God and thus to them. The 
joy that comes through such intercourse is so great 
and so real that the lower forms of pseudo-com- 
munication can never be resorted to. When once 
the higher communication is experienced the ma- 
terial form becomes abhorrent. One looks upon 
those who practice such forms as upon children 
building houses in the sand and making mud pies. 
To children the houses are very real, and the cakes 
and pies very attractive but they are nevertheless 
made of sand and mud. 

Possession By Evil Souls 

Still another and more horrible condition follows 
upon the acceptance of the presence and activity of 



52 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

the departed. Rather unfortunately, the souls of 
unhappy persons or those who have met violent 
deaths or have committed suicide or have been mur- 
dered, are included in the system, and are reported 
to be the source of much trouble. All believers in 
spiritualism become involved in these problems. 
Mediums in getting messages frequently report that 
malicious, mischievous or restless spirits often break 
in and disturb communications. Nor can one con- 
tinue merely to communicate with a dear friend or 
relative. All sorts of strangers of whom one has 
never heard break in with messages and soon one 
has become surrounded by an entirely new set of 
"spirit" friends. 

To have a great beneficent spirit as a control may 
be very agreeable and! may also prove profitable 
commercially, but the "control" is not limited to the 
good souls, or the souls of the departed who were 
good. Unhappy, angry and even violent souls are 
supposed to have the power of control, and a great 
deal of unhappiness, insanity and mental anguish 
on the part of living people, whom they have entered 
is attributed to them. Such beliefs are not confined 
to professional mediums. Statements of acceptance 
of such conditions were made by Dr. Worcester in 
a public address before the Church Congress in 
Rochester. He declared he believed Mr. Hickson to 
be a psychic with distinct qualifications of medium- 
ship. 



THE SEAMY SIDE OF SPIRITUALISM 53 

Demoniac Possession Postponed 

I shall not here touch upon the experience related 
of Jesus in the casting out of evil spirits or demons. 
That deserves a study by itself and will be presented 
later in booklet form. But I hold that any reference 
to such work on His part did not refer to possession 
by the souls of any departed; nor is there any evi- 
dence that the people of His time so considered it. 
In this place I shall confine my discussion entirely to 
the spirits of the departed, and the evil as well as 
the good souls which are being considered by the 
spiritualists of today. 



CHAPTER V 
HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 

A copy of the "Journal of the American Society 
For Psychical Research" has just come to us contain- 
ing an article by Dr. James H. Hyslop entitled, "Mr. 
Hickson's Spiritual Healing." It brings to the fore- 
ground in a professional way, references made by 
Mr. Hickson, during his American visit, to evil 
spirits of the departed and to their ability to take 
possession of the living. 

This point it will be remembered came out at the 
Church Congress in Rochester, where Dr. Worcester 
definitely stated that he felt that Mr. Hickson was a 
medium. (See "The Nazarene," No. 18.) 

Professor Hyslop opens his article with extracts of 
interviews from several newspapers and then makes 
the following comment: "What strikes the reader 
first is the orthodox brogue involved in his (Mr. 
Hickson's) work and the effect of it on churchmen 
who have not vision enough to see its affinitive and 
its affiliations." Professor Hyslop then states he 
addressed a letter to Mr. Hickson with some eleven 
questions, but received from a secretary the reply 
that Mr. Hickson was leaving the city and found it 
impossible to give his letter a response. Professor 
Hyslop closes his article as follows : 



HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 55 

"Not long ago he (Mr. Hickson) addressed a com- 
pany of clergymen, and laid great stress upon obses- 
sion or possession, it is said, and stated that he was 
frequently aware of such conditions among the 
patients who came to him. He even affirmed that 
he could tell whether they were possessed by either 
good or evil spirits by the smell. He was asked 
whether he was aware that St. Augustine in his 
Confession says that his mother's nurse had the same 
power to distinguish spirits, the revelation not by 
smell so much as taste in her mouth. He answered 
that he had never heard of this, which makes his 
statement the more original and valuable. Of 
course there are many to whom such a notion would 
seem highly absurd, even after they had become 
reconciled to that of apparition, or at least to its con- 
ceivability. But there are really no priori grounds 
for deciding that a spirit could not affect other senses 
than sight and hearing. 

"Mr. Hickson also said that in his opinion a large 
percentage of persons in the insane asylums are 
obsessed, and not suffering from any form of brain 
disease or mental deterioration, and claimed that he 
had in many instances restored such persons to 
sanity in a moment of time. He told the story of a 
girl who, having resisted his aid, committed suicide 
in a field, and that her spirit continued to cry and 
scream around the spot where her body had lain for 
several days to the great terror of the neighbors. 



56 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

He went to the place and explained to the girl that 
she was dead, and advised her to leave that spot and 
go on, promising her help in the other world, and the 
cries ceased. 

"Through another avenue it was learned that Mr. 
Hickson believes that he has seen spirits. He also 
believes that his healing gift is conferred upon few 
persons. That is, it depends upon a something in 
addition to faith, for he cannot doubt that many of 
his brother clergy have as great faith as he, though 
utterly impotent to heal as he does. 

"He is gaining wide acceptance in the Episcopal 
body and has had healing meetings in many of the 
leading churches. It is doubtful if he could have 
found entrance had he not have clothed his teachings 
in orthodox phraseology, and especially had he called 
himself a healing medium. Nor do we suggest that 
there is any reason why he should alter his forms of 
speech, but only that there may be a distinction 
in his case without much of a difference. 

"We have statements from competent and critical 
observers that not only functional maladies but 
organic ones have been cured by Mr. Hickson, and 
hope to be in a position to test some of these claims 
for ourselves. Whether he will consider it worth 
while to assist this Society more definitely and 
minutely than has come to our attention, time will 
tell. In the meantime it is interesting to see the 
Church waking to the possibility of renewing the 



HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 57 

function of spiritual healing which it claims was its 
early possession/' 

From the above article it can clearly be seen that 
Dr. Hyslop inclines very strongly to the belief in 
"possession" by spirits of the departed. This desire 
to investigate Mr. Hickson is based on the hope of 
getting more information concerning "controls" and 
the wanderings of discarnate souls. He assumes 
that certain troubles are caused by unhappy spirits 
and that they are subject to control, by the human 
being, who, through a stronger control, is able to 
master them. In this he is only taking Mr. Hickson 
at his word. It does not occur to Dr. Hyslop to in- 
vestigate the character of the faith that was 
awakened in some of the reported cures. He is in- 
terested only in tracing manifestations from the 
spirit world and in endeavoring to establish com- 
munication. His books reveal how he has failed in 
this pursuit. 

Not only did this subject come out very clearly at 
the Church Congress and also attract the attention 
of other professional spiritualists, but many who 
came in contact with Mr. Hickson heard frequently 
from his own lips experiences which revealed very 
clearly his belief in spiritual beings and their ability 
to enter into the bodies of the living. 

To many of his friends in America he stated that 
the whole trouble with Ireland was, that it was under 
a curse and had to be freed from its evil spirits. He 
himself has told members of Parliament that that 



58 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

was the trouble. He also stated that after the great 
war he visited the battle fields of France in order to 
quiet the spirits of the boys who had fallen in battle 
and also to cast out the other spirits of evil who are 
hovering over battle fields. Some of the men, he 
stated, were still fighting, because of their hatred. 

He stated that he went to Jerusalem for the 
purpose of casting out the evil spirits there that had 
held that city in bondage for so many years and that 
General Allenby could not have entered the city had 
he (Mr. Hickson) not first cast out the evil spirits 
from it. He also stated he had exploded the powder 
magazine in that city by his psychic force. Here 
also he visited battle fields and stated that he had re- 
lieved the spirits of many of the dead soldiers who 
were still earth-bound. He felt that India was also 
under a curse and that was also one of his reasons 
for wishing to go there. 

In his work as a professional healer in England, 
Mr. Hickson's belief in evil spirits was so widely 
known that he was frequently sent for by persons 
with a similar belief to exercise haunted houses. 
Among the stories of his work Mr. Hickson relates 
the following: 

"The Cursed Saddle" 

At a house in Scotland where he was called to 
remove serious trouble, which included noises, groan- 
ings, etc., he learned that two hundred years pre- 
viously a groom had run off with a favorite horse. 



HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 59 

The mistress was so infuriated at this act that she 
cursed the groom and declared that he should go 
blind and that this curse should fall upon his 
descendants as well. Apparently her curse was 
effective, for the groom went blind, according to the 
story, and in every succeeding generation there was 
a blind son. At the present time there was a boy 
seventeen years of age who was blind. Mr. Hickson 
went through the belongings of the house and found 
the original saddle which the groom had used. He 
removed the curse from the saddle and there was no 
further trouble. Apparently the spirit of the first 
groom was still attached to this saddle. 

"The Egyptian Mummies" 

Another family was always having serious trouble 
in that some of its members were meeting death by 
drowning. He made an investigation and found 
that there were two mummies whose spirits occupied 
cases in the cellar. He told them to depart and there 
was no further trouble. 

A lady next door had stated that she had been 
much bothered by spirits who came to her dressed in 
Egyptian clothes. Immediately after he had visited 
the house the two Egyptian spirits came to her and, 
bowing pleasantly, stated that they were now going 
away. 

Mr. Hickson also told a remarkable story with 
regard to his belief in the occupation of mummy 



60 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

cases by stating that he knew of a little girl who had 
stuck out her tongue at a mummy in the British 
Museum. On the way downstairs she tripped and 
broke her ankle. He stated that this particular 
mummy had always been giving the attendants 
trouble. There were so many queer happenings and 
breakages around it that they decided to get rid of 
it. It was on the "Titanic" when it sank. When he 
was asked if he had used the Egyptian language to 
the Egyptian spirits, he stated, — "Certainly not, but 
they understood what I required of them." 

"The Possessed Indian Boy" 

Mr. Hckson stated that good spirits sometimes 
take possession of living persons as well as evil 
spirits. He declares that once while helping a sick 
Indian boy in London the boy fell asleep and sud- 
denly began to talk very good English, although the 
boy, when in a wakened state, could speak only very 
broken English. The spirit, using the boy as a 
mouth-piece, said : "I am the boy's garoo," (former 
priest) and then went on to tell Mr. Hickson all 
about the boy's affairs, his property, etc. 

"The Possessed Nurse" 

Once Mr. Hickson treated a nurse, who made a 
promise to God that if she recovered her health she 
would show her gratitude in some service to God. 
Her prayer was answered and she forgot all about 
her promise. Three times this happened and the 



HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 61 

last time it was in a house where she was nursing 
a patient. This patient became insane and hung 
herself and the spirit went into the nurse and made 
her insane. It was a punishment, because she had 
been trifling with sacred things and it was only with 
great difficulty that Mr. Hickson was able to release 
the nurse from the spirit of the suicide. 

"Communication With the Dead and Living" 

Mr. Hickson also believes implicity in his ability 
to communicate with departed spirits, both good and 
bad. He stated that he had had a good long talk 
with Leo, the Thirteenth, and that the Pope had 
given him his blessing. He also stated that shortly 
after the war, he had talked with the spirit of the 
Kaiser and his comment was, "He is really not bad 
at heart." 

While in London he met several persons who told 
him that Mr. Hickson was frequently sent for in 
various parts of England to release haunted houses 
from unhappy spirits and that he always responded 
to such calls and believes in his ability to drive the 
the spirits out by forms of exorcism. 

Lincoln Suggested as a "Control" 

While walking with me in a suburb of London, 
after some sick calls, Mr. Hickson asked me if I did 
not believe that in my work I was under the "con- 
trol" of some powerful spirit. I stated that I had 



62 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

never given thought to any such power, but had 
rested all my efforts and work upon the power and 
presence of Jesus alone. Mr. Hickson stated he had 
thought considerably about it since meeting me and 
thought that I was under the influence of the spirit 
of Abraham Lincoln. I am thankful to say that this 
suggestion never found a place in my thought or 
work. 

Mr. Hickson firmly believes also that departed 
spirits attach themselves to furniture and other 
material things they have used during their life and 
for that reason he states that he would never pur- 
chase anything of a second-hand nature, or anything 
that had ever been used by anyone, no matter how 
attractive it may be as an antique. 

After one of his healing missions in New York he 
told one of his attendants that he felt much of the 
trouble with a great many women was due to the 
spirits of departed persons, whose hair they were 
wearing. He called attention to the fact that a 
great deal of false hair is imported from China and 
he said that as he placed his hands on the heads of 
some women, he could feel that that hair was closely 
associated with the spirit of the person to whom it 
had belonged. Some of those persons had become 
very evil spirits and were the cause of the woes of 
the wearers of the false hair. 

That Mr. Hickson is very psychic there is no doubt 
but it is most unfortunate that he has followed the 



HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 63 

traditional path in attributing many mysterious 
maladies to the spirits of the departed. 

An Earl Who Was a Healer 

A significant aspect of Mr. Hickson's relation with 
this spiritualistic form of healing came out in the re- 
view in "The Churchman" of a book, "Memoirs of 
Edward, Earl of Sandwich," edited by Mrs. Stuart 
Erskine. It is an account of the life of an English 
nobleman who loved to travel. The reviewer states : 

"It is not until the book draws to its close that its 
main interest appears with the entrance of Mr. Hick- 
son, the faith healer, whose present visit to the 
United States is attracting so much attention. As 
soon as they met, Mr. Hickson assured Lord Sand- 
wich, that he was himself possessed of the power, the 
exercise of which the earl had come to solicit for one 
of his domestics, and from that time forward Lord 
Sandwich devoted his life to the relief of suffering, 
by prayer and the imposition of hands. There is no 
ground for doubting that Lord Sandwich, always a 
devout man, believed himself so qualified and em- 
powered, and little reason, one thinks, for doubting 
that he actually brought assuagement of pain and 
healing. The medical anaesthetics are not the only 
analgesics, and the pharmacopoeia does not exhaust 
the therapeutic agencies. So much the whole world 
has learned now. The matter is complicated and 
will in some eyes, in this case, be vitiated, by Lord 



64 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

Sandwich's conviction that he was under the con- 
stant direction of a diseased American physician 
through the channel of a spiritualistic 'medium'." 

This "control' ' to which the reviewer refers was 
purported to be the spirit of "Dr. Coulter." Lord 
Sandwich was evidently in a most receptive state for 
such suggestion, as from that time on to the end of 
his life he accepted the theory that Mr. Hickson 
presented and felt he was called to go about 
healing as "Dr. Coulter's" instrument. Through the 
work of an American medium he placed himself en- 
tirely under the direction of "Dr. Coulter" and was 
in constant communication with him regarding all 
cases. This medium, a Mrs. Herbine, became a part 
of the household and was naturally included in all 
of the subsequent travels. This part of the life of 
Lord Sandwich is told by Mrs. Scott Gatty, his niece, 
as follows : 

"At a request from 'Dr. Coulter,' my uncle, accom- 
panied by Mrs. Herbine and myself, went to India 
in 1912 to bring certain rajahs and their people 
in touch with 'Dr. Coulter' and spiritual healing. I 
must say that wherever we traveled it made a vast 
impression of good on the Indians, that an old gen- 
tleman of seventy-five years should leave his com- 
fortable home and travel those miles to bring them 
the message of love and unity and healing." 

Mrs. Gatty writes that her uncle treated mem- 
bers of various royal families, among the Indian 
people and in one instance states: "Both the 



HAUNTED BODIES AND HAUNTED HOUSES 65 

Maharajah and the Princess of India had long talks 
with Dr. Coulter." The account continues: "Of 
course our journey was entirely controlled by Dr. 
Coulter, who told us where to go, to whom he wished 
to speak, and how long we were to stay at any given 
place." 

The influence that the medium had upon Lord 
Sandwich and the manner by which through the 
exercise of her psychic temperament she was able 
to dominate the groups, is seen in the concluding 
statement: "Our presence was much discussed in 
India and Indians made long journeys to talk to us. 
Many of them tried to kiss the hem of Mrs. Heroine's 
gown in token of their language." 



CHAPTER VI. 
"THE UNSEEN DOCTOR" 

The book bearing the above title, referred to previ- 
ously was published by Henry Holt & Co., (1920.) 
It is one to which we must give attention because 
it sets forth the healing of an English woman, "E. 
M. S.," as she is designated, after many years of ill- 
ness, through the work of two nurses who claimed to 
be under the "control" of a deceased physician, "Dr. 
Beale," and a number of spirit medical associates 
and spirit nurses. The fact that a real healing was 
accomplished and that this is attested by a clergy- 
man and the regular family physician in attendance, 
would be sufficient proof to many that the healing 
was produced by spiritualistic means. This would 
also lead others to the acceptance of the theory of the 
patient that these spirits did exist and did operate 
as she believed, through the mediumship of her two 
nurses. The fact is clearly established in the early 
part of the book that Miss Rose, the chief of the 
two nurses, possessed strong psychic gifts of 
clairaudience and clairvoyance. It was she who 
claimed to be so completely under the control of the 
departed "Dr. Beal" that she assumed a masculine 
voice and manner and frequently wore a man's coat, 
while working on the patient as the human instru- 



THE UNSEEN DOCTOR 67 

ment of the invisible physician. Miss Rose, also a 
psychic, was controlled by the "Doctor" in his work, 
and also was utilized in following the direction of 
"spirit" nurses from the immortal realm. 

Additional weight to the spiritistic explanation is 
found in the introduction to the book by J. Arthur 
Hill, whose tendencies in this direction are well 
known. He frankly states, however, that he does 
not know whether "Dr. Beale" is a spirit or a 
secondary personality of the medium, (p. v.) 

"Through believing in survival and communica- 
tion," he continues, "I find the question of trance 

controls a very puzzling one I believe that 

many controls whose acquaintance I have made are 
in fact subliminal fractions, though probably be- 
lieving themselves to be spirits, as 'Sally* in the case 
of Miss Beauchamp.* One strong reason for thinking 
so is that they adopt artificialities of speech, which, 
except to a very accommodating mind, seem ob- 
viously done for a purpose." He cites several in- 
stances where he believed a trance to be genuine, 
yet found it difficult to acquit the control of a defin- 
ite will to deceive, (p VI). This deception he says 
is not conscious on the part of the medium. 

In summing up Mr. Hill says: "And finally, for 
practical purposes, it does not matter what "Dr. 
Beale" is. If he is a spirit promoted to the class 

♦"The Dissociation of a Personality," by Dr. Morton Prince. 



68 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

above us, it is natural that he should exceed us in 
knowledge and power; if he is a fraction of the 
medium's higher self, of the part not normally incar- 
nated or manif ested, it is still natural, for we know 
that the subliminal self or transcendental ego, or 
whatever we like to call it, has knowledge and power 
beyond the range of our normal consciousness." 

Such a conclusion we cannot accept, nor can it be 
accepted by any honest seeker for truth. It does 
matter what Dr. Beale is. Many people become well 
when their physicians prescribed bread pills and 
other simple medicines having no relation whatever 
to any disease. Because results were good it might 
be called "practical." But it is an affront to truth 
to continue such deception. It does matter, and be- 
cause it does, the true physician today is not prac- 
ticing deception, or "the easiest way," but is edu- 
cating the mind of the patient by telling him the 
truth ; by helping him to gain control of himself and 
showing him how he may achieve mastery. An ex- 
tended review of several new books on this very 
subject by physicians was recently published In 
"The Nazarene." Many persons have been helped 
to health by a horse-chestnut or a rabbit's foot, or a 
blessed medal carried about religiously. It does 
matter whether they believe they were helped by 
some power inherent in the charm or in the relic, 
or whether we can trace the result to the faith in- 



THE UNSEEN DOCTOR 69 

spired within them because of their possession of 
the token. 

The stimulation of the body by faith, not the 
transmission of a protecting energy from the token, 
was the source of power. Therefore it does matter, 
as truth matters. The difference is as great as that 
between right and wrong. On one side one is left in 
superstition and ignorance; on the other one pro- 
gresses in knowledge and true spiritual develop- 
ment. 

A man once boasted of his immunity from con- 
tagion during a great plague because of a certain 
charm he had carried. Upon producing his wallet 
to exhibit it, he found it had been lost. How anxious 
he would have become had this discovery been made 
at the time of his need! No power was withdrawn 
from him when it was lost, but he had remained 
strong, upheld by the faith he had in the power of 
the charm and by the belief that it was in his pos- 
session. 

It may be quite legitimate for a physician to sat- 
isfy a very nervous patient with a harmless dose 
for the purpose of stimulating the mind to some 
degree of faith in him and in his ability to prescribe 
that which is going to cure. As the mind is 
strengthened the medicine is withdrawn and real 
education instituted. This, however, is an entirely 
different thing from explicit statement that a cure 
is being produced through the agency of departed 



70 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

spirits; and from the performance of acts which 
would tend to stamp that theory on the mind of the 
patient. 

We do not question for one moment that the 
nurse, Miss Rose, had psychic powers of most un- 
usual character, but we feel she could have been 
just as successful in utilizing them legitimately, and 
as gifts of God. She should have made God her 
control not "Dr. Beale." We feel that she would 
have accomplished certainly the same results with 
her spiritually minded patient. The traditional ex- 
planation of psychic power as being the result of 
spirit control was accepted by the nurse and in ex- 
ercising it on this lower level she kept the mind of 
her patient also on the lower levels. 

Weakness of the Spirit Theory 

I reject the spiritistic thesis of the book also 
on the ground that it presents incongruities which, 
if true, would render God the author of a system, 
very illogically constructed and loosely organized. 
No one, not even the believers, were able to trace 
"Dr. Beale" or find out when or where he had lived. 
It was merely stated he had lived in London and 
had enjoyed extensive hospital practice. He 
demonstrated no more medical knowledge than any 
graduate nurse would possess. Why should God 
therefore permit the spirit of such an inferior and 
unknown physician to re-appear, when it might 



THE UNSEEN DOCTOR 71 

be inferred that there were many really great phy- 
sicians, whose love for humanity would be sufficient 
guarantee that they would be most happy to return 
and reveal their "higher knowledge," to say nothing 
of the very superior knowledge they possessed while 
on earth for the uplift of mankind and especially 
for their dear ones. It is not likely they would hesi- 
tate to use any medium open to them and if granted 
that privilege, (admitting it among the possibilities) 
they would not hesitate to demonstrate again their 
great skill and knowledge in a manner that would 
be most gratifying and beyond criticism. 

A system as orderly, as reasonable, as logical, as 
intelligent, as that existing in the visible world, 
should exist in the invisible realm, else it surely will 
be a sorry place. Summarizing the accounts of the 
revelations of the average medium, the invisible 
system is far below present human standards in in- 
telligence. 

A summary of the entire book is made by the phy- 
sician who formerly attended the patient. It is 
sympathetic, fair and reflects the mind of a Chris- 
tian gentleman earnestly seeking truth. He con- 
cludes : 

"In my hands, suggestion had failed to touch the 
spot. My suggestions were neither wrapped in mys- 
tery nor related to religion ; nor would their triumph 
have added to the patient's proofs of the possibility 
of life after death. But, a priori, I considered the 
case of "E. M .S." a suitable case for suggestive 



72 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

treatment. The patient's interest in the possibility 
of life after death, and her growing belief in spir- 
itualism formed a firm ground for treatment by a 
spirit-doctor. 

"1. This keen interest in life after death may be 
called (in psychological terms) an Immortality- com- 
plex. All of us have a few complexes. A complex 
is any tout ensemble (or system) of "emotionally- 
toned ideas." A complex (an interest, business, pre- 
judice, hope, hobby, ideal, obsession, affection or 
study), in proportion to its intensity, struggles to 
evolve, and, in Kaiser or coal-striker alike, insists 
on a place in the sun. "If music be the food of love, 
play on" — means that the complex (love) is so 
voracious in its desire to absorb all materials with- 
in reach of its owner, and has such a capacity for 
digesting anything which contains even a minute 
percentage of nourishment, that it will try to fatten 
on a tune. Any object or idea even remotely con- 
nected with a complex; rouses its owner to bodily 
and mental activity. Ideas and arguments are 
offered to or arise in the owner's mind. And (this is 
important) such arguments and efforts as are in 
harmony with the complex, are reinforced and grow 
whilst those which are in opposition to that com- 
plex are allowed or forced to shrivel and die, until in 
many cases the complex runs the whole show. 
Against a strong complex logic is powerless ; such a 
complex is as determined as a waterfall. The 
nurses of "E. M. S." enlisted as their ally such a 
complex, and won where I had failed. 

"2. The treatment by a spirit was in exceptionally 
complete harmony with this patient's complex. 

"3. That the treatment, having commenced, 
should be successful, became almost essential to the 



THE UNSEEN DOCTOR 73 

existence, and quite essential to the growth and de- 
velopment of that complex. 

"4. Fortunately, the stimulus to the whole per- 
sonality which that complex provided was sufficiently 
strong to determine the behaviour not only of her 
conscious nerve-centers, but also of her disordered 
unconscious, nerve-centres, and they fell into line. 
In just such a manner, an express train dashing 
through a station draws after it into some sort of 
order, the bits of paper which were previously lying 
scattered about in its neighborhood. 

5. Thus disordered action became ordered, and 
the patient was cured. The Immortality-complex 
became reinforced and was enabled to take large 
strides. 

1 'During this spirit-treatment, which lasted twen- 
ty months, a religious suggestion of superhuman 
power was the atmosphere the patient breathed, and 
its supply was without stint. The nurses declared 
that, for instruction in the management of their 
patient, they depended entirely on the spirit, "Dr. 
Beale." Through them, he acknowledged God to be 
the sole source of his power. Prayers by several 
people were abundant and sustained. Psychic ap- 
paratus (invisible) , "corresponding in some ways to 
X-rays," were said to be used. Psychic (invisible) 
"magnetic" batteries, charged for long periods, were 
said to be constantly pouring power into the patient. 
A meticulous accuracy in timing every slightest 
effort was enforced ; an effort too long by one minute 
brought a severe reprimand from the spirit-doctor 
to the nurse. 

"The prescription of silence during message-treat- 
ment; the surprise visit of a new helper-spirit; the 
careful choice by the spirit-doctor of rooms and of 



74 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

nurses who were psychically "all right" ; the sudden 
disappearance for a long period of the spirit-doctor; 
his careful provision of a spirit-locum-tenens ; the 
consultation together of several spirit-doctors with 
reference to the case ; the letters ; the spirit-robe of 
the doctor; his arbitrary decisions, which were at 
times subtly contrary to the expectation of the pa- 
tient ; the stories of ghost-laying, and of other useful 
spirit-occupations, occupying spare moments; and, 
finally, a guarantee, by a spirit "Professor from a 
college in the Higher Sphere," that there was no 
danger of a relapse — all these and many other pro- 
cedures, carried out in an atmosphere saturated with 
soi-disant mystery hope, and religion, appealed to 
the patient and maintained an attitude of expectant 
attention, until the involuntary nervous system of 
this long-suffering patient had made a complete re- 
covery. Her confidence never flagged, but grew; 
and according to her faith it was done unto her. 

I have had an interview with Miss Rose, the 
medium. I watched the process of transformation 
when she "left her body" and lent it to the spirit- 
doctor. The transmigration method, the shudder, 
the closed eyelids, the altered breathing, the ex- 
pectant attention, and the final gasp as of a de- 
parture, were what is called auto-suggestion. Its 
result was a partial dissociation of the personality 
of Miss Rose. In this state, especially with practice, 
voices may be heard and visions seen. The apostle 
Paul had the complaint. The Middle Ages had full 
experience of it. In our ordinary life partial dis- 
sociations of personality are of daily occurrence. 
When Alfred the Great burned the cakes, and when 
Mr. T. Atkins, in his 50-yard on-rush, omitted to 
notice that he had dropped one or two fingers, the 



THE UNSEEN DOCTOR 75 

personalities of these men had become partially dis- 
sociated, negatively. And when to such a process of 
kenosis carried to a higher degree, Miss Rose added 
a stronger use of her voice, and a firmer grip by her 
hands, and a more masculine gait (not to speak of 
the occasional use of a man's coat) , it was merely 
the addition of a little positive-association-paint to 
the negative-dissociation-picture. But, as I ex- 
pected, medical knowledge, even of a rudimentary 
character, was outside the association-power of the 
medium. 

"I satisfied myself that the spirit was neither 
Beale, doctor nor man. Partially dissociated person- 
alities unfit for ordinary life are numerous in asy- 
lums. If persons deliberately try to cultivate these 
disordered conditions, the number of the certifiably 
insane will be increased. Such efforts are to be 
strongly discouraged. 

"I note that since my interview with the spirit- 
doctor, "he" has taken out a course of medical study 
in "The Higher Spheres of the Beyond." "He" 
needed it. "His" studies may perhaps add to the 
efficiency of "his" nurses. But nothing can add to 
my admiration of their care, skill, and success in 
their management of one of the most interesting and 
difficult cases I have ever had to watch. 

G. E. H. (Dr. "Steadall") M. D., B. Sc, B. A. 

Unconscious Deception 

A striking feature of the case is the apparent sin- 
cerity on the part of the two psychic nurses. One 
must feel that they certainly believed they were act- 
ing in conformity with the wills of departed spirits 
or they would not have maintained their work so 



76 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

long and so consistently. Hudson in his splendid 
book, "The Law of Psychic Phenomena," makes all 
allowance for this for he states that "the detection 
of a medium in fraudulent practices does not per se 
prove that he was consciously guilty." His point is 
that when the medium is working, his subjective 
mind is in control. It often acts capriciously, and 
presumably fraudulent practices might be indulged 
in without the objective knowledge or control of the 
medium. 

This would explain why Miss Rose would fre- 
quently resort to the use of invisible instruments 
and invisible machines during treatment, which to 
many, would appear childish and absurd. 

Hudson gives a very satisfactory explanation of 
this extraordinary state of mind on the part of the 
medium. He says: 

Reasons for Belief by Mediums 

"It is obvious, therefore, that the universal law 
of suggestion operates upon the subjective mind of 
a medium with the same force and certainty as upon 
all others. He is in the subjective, or hypnotic, con- 
dition. The suggestion that he is about to be con- 
trolled by the spirits of the dead is ever present to 
his mind, and is all potent. It is a part of his edu- 
cation. It is his religious belief. No other expla- 
nation of the mysterious phenomena is known to 



THE UNSEEN DOCTOR 77 

him. He knows only that he is moved by a power, 
an intelligence, over which he exerts no conscious 
control. It gives utterance to thoughts beyond his 
comprehension, and possesses knowledge of matters 
of which he consciously knows nothing. His con- 
clusion is, first that the intelligence is something 
extraneous to his personality, and secondly that it 
must be that of an inhabitant of another world. 
From his standpoint it is the only rational con- 
clusion." 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS 

The theory that the soul of an unhappy person 
can be permitted to return and take possession of a 
living person, is in opposition to every revelation of 
God's ordered plan as presented by Jesus. Two main 
principles are revealed. 

1. God, as Perfect Love, certainly has a place and 
plan for a distressed soul, either for its discipline or 
its enlightenment and development. To act as if 
this were not so is to deny His power in the invisible 
realm. 

2. God would not violate His great gift of free 
will to man by permitting an unhappy soul to take 
possession of a living person, who would thus be 
bound and distressed by a violent will and person- 
ality, which he had no power to control. Such be- 
liefs are the reflections of the most primitive super* 
stitions, and are founded on gross ignorance and 
fear. They are illogical and unchristian and to such 
a state of mind they should be confined. They take 
man back to the savage belief in animism. 

An Impassable Barrier 

All the teaching in the Gospels points to the fact 
of an impassable barrier between the visible and in- 
visible realms of the Kingdom. The Gospels contain 



THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS 79 

three cases of actual revival or the calling back of 
souls from the invisible side to resume bodily func- 
tions, and in no instance does any one of them give 
a hint as to the character of their temporary so- 
journ. Lazarus with four days had ample opportun- 
ity for observation. 

One of the parables related by Jesus, has a dis- 
tinct reference to a soul desiring to return that he 
might warn his brothers of the fate that had over- 
taken him because of his selfish, uncharitable life. 
This appeal, although based on the most humane 
motives meets with refusal. Two very good reasons 
are given for that refusal. The first is that suffi- 
cient revelation of God and His principles had been 
given to man in Moses and the prophets. The 
second is that those still on earth who have rejected 
this truth of God "would not believe even though 
one rose from the dead." (See St. Luke 16.27.) 

We cannot err in applying these same principles 
to the whole subject of spiritualism today. By 
"Moses and the prophets" Jesus meant first, the 
Divine law of God that had been revealed and for 
which the name of the great leader, Moses stood; 
and secondly, He meant that higher, purer revela- 
tion of God's true character, which the prophets 
were ever presenting and trying to impress upon 
the Jews, that they might be lifted out of their 
narrow conception of God as their particular tribal 
Deity. 



80 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

In that parable Jesus meant to expound the prin- 
ciple that God and His word is sufficient for man's 
guidance, and that if His voice is sought, His way- 
followed, no other guidance or "control" is needed 
by man. For all Truth and all Light are in Him. 
He knows man's needs and will guide him in paths 
calculated to provide his greatest benefits and joys, 
and minister to his deepest desires. 

The law revealed a God of this character and the 
prophets strove against lower conceptions of it. 
Jesus gave the highest revelations of His reality. 
He spoke and acted as God's mouth-piece and in- 
strument. 

Spiritualism Among The Jews 

There was much spiritualism practiced by the 
Hebrews. They were a superstitious people and some 
of their beliefs are not only held to this day, but 
have also been carried over into Christianity. The 
great prophets, however, discountenanced the prac- 
tice of spiritualism, as being contrary to God's law. 
Isaiah sternly rebuked the nation for seeking guid- 
ance from the departed. 

"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto 
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards 
that peep and that mutter ; should not a people seek 
unto their God? (For the living to the dead?). To 
the law and to the testimony ? If they speak not ac- 



THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS 81 

cording to this word, it is because there is no light 
in them." Isaiah 8 : 19.20. 

In another passage, dwelling upon the burden 
that is to come upon Egypt, Isaiah places a very low 
estimate on the practice as being on the level of 
idolatry. 

' 'And the spirit of Egypt shall fall in the midst 
thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof; and 
they shall seek to the idols and to the charmers 
and to them that have familiar spirits and to the 
wizards." Isaiah 18:3. 

It is undoubtedly to such passages as these that 
Jesus was referring when He mentioned the 
prophets and their estimate of returning spirits. 

The Spirit of God 

The prophets, themselves, were free from any 
foreign influence. Therein rested their vision. 
Their continual cry was: "The spirit of the Lord 
is upon me!" 

With Jesus the experience and vision was the 
same. His "control" was God. 

"The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of 
myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, He 
doeth the works." (St. John 14:10). 

The same Spirit of Truth who was in Him, He 
promised to send to those who believed in Him and 
accepted Him. That Spirit of Truth was to include 
both Him and His Father and was to constitute 



82 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

man's unerring guide. His words of promise cannot 
be misinterpreted. 

"At that day ye shall know that I am in My 
Father and ye in Me and I in you." 

With such an assurance of perfect umon with God 
through the soul of Jesus and the offer of Perfect 
Love and Truth to be our "control," our possession, 
how can we seek for a lesser guidance ? Is it not a 
turning from light to darkness and seeking lower 
manifestations of the spirit world, when we might 
be putting ourselves in touch with the higher forms ? 

Power in Man, Not in Ghosts 

The commissions of Jesus to His disciples make 
very plain the true character of their work. He 
gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them 
out and to heal all manner of sickness. They were 
not to perform, their work through the agency of 
any departed physician or receive healing even 
through such intimate relationship as that of a de- 
parted mother or father. If any such system were 
even among the possibilities Jesus would have known 
all about it and would have instructed His followers 
accordingly. They were to be the actors and in- 
struments, performing through their humanity, the 
wondrous counsels of His plan and will. There was 
indeed to be a "spirit control/' but it was to be con- 
fined to the one great Source. As He Himself 
sought and found the Father as His control, so they 



THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS 83 

were to follow Him in the seeking and be rewarded 
like Him in the finding. 

"For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your 
Father which speaketh in you." 

When Jesus opens to us the opportunities for such 
intimate relationship with One who is the Source of 
all spirit life, and the great Creator of all Law, as 
well, no man seeking Light should ever be satisfied 
with anything less. 

The person who is seeking revelation in the spirit 
world, who has a longing for some word from the 
invisible realm, will find in abundance, and will have 
every longing gratified to the full if he is found of 
God and loses himself in the spirit of God in the 
finding. It is a "spirit control" of wondrous real- 
ity. Jesus promised it to His disciples and to all 
who love Him. "I will pray the Father and He shall 
give you another Comforter, that He may abide with 
you forever, even the Spirit of Truth." (St. John 
14: 16). 

There can be no possibility of misinterpretation, of 
misunderstanding. He has told us about love and in 
learning from Him we have found the highest form 
of love, both human and Divine; a love for every 
relationship, binding the hearts of dear ones with 
unbreakable bands, girdling the world and reaching 
through invisible realms, embracing those who have 
gone before and ending only with God. All this 
Jesus taught us and in Him we have found God's 



84 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

expression of Perfect Love in man. Jesus loved 
with a perfect love and asks our perfect love in re- 
turn for Himself and the Father, who are One. 

Therefore when He speaks of the Spirit of Truth, 
He means no les than God's Spirit. It is not a 
mere formula but an expression of reality. 

The spirit control that He will give is not one 
concerning which there can be any pious contro- 
versy, with the possibility of two people with diver- 
gent opinions, both being right, but divided only 
because of their view of two different aspects of the 
same thing. There is to be no possible question 
with regard to the truth of the revelation that the 
spirit of God will give, nor as to its finality, for the 
Spirit embraces the very character of perfect truth, 
as Jesus embraced the character of Perfect Love. 

"Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come, he will 
guide you into all truth." ( St. John 16: 13.) 

As He is offering us a revelation of perfect truth, 
so He is requiring of us, an acceptance of that revel- 
ation and a practice of that which is nothing less 
than perfect truth. 



THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS 85 

"IF THERE BE FAIRIES" 

If there be fairies — as I truly think, 
For I have watched a tiny baby's eyes 
Unclose upon the borderland of sleep, 
And seen him smile upon the very brink 
Of Heaven ; and, surely, only fairy wands 
Could drop upon the little dewy lids 
A dream as beautiful as Paradise — 
If there be fairy folk, 

I would not feel them with my curious hands, 
Nor follow them with heavy, human feet, 
But I would leave them in their shy retreat 
As free as butterflies. 

If there be ghosts — and this I do not know ; 
I only think if God had thought it best 
To lift the veil that hides oblivion, 
Somewhere within His wondrous Book of Books, 
He would have told us so — 
If there be ghosts, I would not vex their peace 
With mortal woes and human strife and stress ; 
But I would leave them to their quiet quest, 
Somewhere between the darkness and the dawn; 
Until in God's good time they find release, 
With home, and friends, and pleasant memories — 
And deep forgetfulness. 

VILDA SAUVAGE OWENS. 



CHAPTER VIII 

TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 

Communication on Lower Levels 

These revelations of perfect love and truth, and 
spiritual unity between Himself and the Father, 
and the extension of that unity with His followers, 
are so repeatedly set forth in several chapters of St. 
John's Gospel, that to give the texts would require 
almost the publication of an entire section. I refer 
the reader to a careful perusal of the thirteenth 
to the end of the seventeenth chapters of St. John, 
with the thought in view which I have been pre- 
senting. If we are really seeking truth we will find 
it in Him. We should read with the eyes of our 
spirit. 

There are many people taking spiritualism very 
seriously and claiming to find something very up- 
lifting and helpful in its practices. Some are mak- 
ing it their religion. There are levels upon which 
we must learn to walk before we can run, and often 
the period of education is slow, and one must pro- 
gress from grade to grade. Truth, however, can be 
presented in a kindergarten just as well as in a col- 
lege. In the process of education nothing should be 
permitted to stand as an obstruction to truth; no- 
thing should be presented which is contrary to 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 87 

truth. This then is the purpose of this essay with 
respect to spiritualism. 

When earthly ties that have bound dear ones to- 
gether are sundered, one easily understands the 
longing for a message from beyond, especially if 
the passing has been sudden. It seemed as if there 
was something unsaid, something undone, and as 
if the human affections did not have the oppor- 
tunity to adjust themselves to the temporary separ- 
ation. 

When this tendency is followed and the practice 
of spirit communication in any form attempted, it 
is naturally inferred and often asserted, that it is 
the very deep love of the living for the departed 
which prompts it. Such love indeed may be very 
deep-seated and ardent, but it is not of the highest 
order for it lacks that quality of the Divine, which, 
combined with the human, would have given it a 
richer, deeper character and added infinitely to its 
joys. 

There are many in this life who place a dear one 
even before God. It may be a child, a mate, a friend 
or a loved one. In such cases there is the natural 
tendency to seek that individual in the invisible 
world in a way that would satisfy the physical 
senses or meet the earthly affections. In all such in- 
stances God is only a secondary cause. A human 
touch is longed for, a human word is sought, a 
human message about earth and previous happen- 



88 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

ings, is treasured. Even the absurdities and trivial- 
ities which are included in purported messages do 
not seem to break the spell or turn the heart and 
soul of the seeker to some higher form of spiritual 
relationship. If earthly affection predominates it 
dims the capacity to detect falsehood or discern 
truth. This explains why such seekers are so easily 
defrauded. Often they fail to see through the most 
crude tricks. 

"The putting of the Divine love before the love of 
man," writes Dr. Orchard, "is not because they ever 
stand in real competition; that can never be; but 
because, unless they are in this order, the love of 
man is never safe. It is not safe for the lover. 
Placing Divine love first is really the security of all 
earthly love. 

"We cannot love human beings as if they were 
perfection itself ; human nature being what it is, we 
must love something still more. But it is also bad 
for the beloved. Nothing is more weakening than 
the love which idolizes and therefore is devoid of 
ethical content; it does not make a person stronger, 
but weaker. What the beloved must ask for is that 
he or she shall be loved with eyes open, with faults 
and defects not made invisible by love, but actually 
more visible, and only to be loved out of existence. 
It is only where there is this stimulating atmosphere 
of ethical sanity that love between two persons lifts 
both to a higher degree of strength and virtue. If 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 89 

we know ourselves, we must fear for the love that 
rates us too high; we know it is not true, and that 
we shall only disappoint; but where there is mutual 
love of God first, and of God in one another, a 
totally different love is found; not wanting in 
romance and tenderness, but a love which develops 
the best in one another." 

Unfortunately there are many ignorant persons, 
possessing psychic power, who do not hesitate to 
use this unknown force in the popular conventional 
way, and to trade upon the grief and affections of 
the bereaved. From the time of the notorious Ann 
O'Dealia Diss DeBar, who many years ago defrauded 
a wealthy lawyer of most of his property by means 
of her "spirit paintings/' I have made many careful 
investigations of the work of professional and ama- 
teur spiritualistic mediums, and I have yet to find 
a single instance of anything that appeared like a 
legitimate message from the other world. 

I wish to state further, that I have made all my 
investigations with an open mind and a deeply sym- 
pathetic spirit, willing to accept anything that might 
appear to partake of the character of truth. 

Unsatisfactory Observations 

In his well-known book on the subject "The Psy- 
chical Phenomena of Spiritualism" (1907) Dr. Here- 
ward Carrington, known as a most sympathetic 



90 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

writer, states that the psychical researchers admit 
that "ninety-eight percent of the pyschical phenom- 
ena of spiritualism are fraudulent." In a preface to 
a new edition (1920), after years of continued re- 
search, he states he still believes it as fully as when 
he wrote it. In another book the same author says : 
"Many spiritualistic seances are quite inexplicable 
as described, (author's boldface) but the description 
is not a true report of what took place at the seance 
in question." 

In addition to this, everyone today realizes how 
weak and unsatisfactory is any testimony given of 
occurrence during strong emotional excitement, and 
where one is in an intense state of anticipation. 
Little light will be thrown on this subject and the 
mass of evidence will continue to bulk large as in- 
consequential and absurd until the problem of phe- 
nomena as a result of psychic force, is investigated 
entirely apart from the subject of communication 
from departed spirits. Many eminent psychologists 
hold that there is no connection between them. 

Pointing a Higher Way 

Dr. Charles Piatt, who has given much study to 
this subject and is the author of several books, is 
among those who take this position. He recently 
wrote a very sympathetic review of a group of books 
on psychical subjects for "The New York Evening 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 91 

Post." His conclusion is illuminating in its logic 
and convincing in its fairness. 

"If there be a great spirit world, and if the spirit 
be without communication, with this, our world, 
then we can never "know" it otherwise than through 
faith. If, on the other hand, there be a spirit world, 
the spirits of which can enter into communication 
with this world of ours, then we may reasonably 
expect here, too, ultimate demonstration and proof. 
But where shall this proof be sought and how? 
Certainly not by physical experiment, or instrumen- 
tality. Assuming a spirit, we can expect only spir- 
itual revelations, and these, it seems likely, would 
come to us only through the vast unconscious, sub- 
conscious storehouse of the mind itself. They would 
enter through the foundations of consciousness and 
not through our materially trained and physically 
directed sense organs." 

Dr. Piatt here touches very closely upon the theme 
presented in the chapter entitled "The Soul in Ac- 
tion," in "The Power To Heal," referred to in a 
preceding section and which has to do with the 
soul's function in uniting man with God and the 
spiritual world. It is only through the soul that 
man is able to communicate with God, and these 
messages are transferred to the conscious through 
the sub-conscious mind. 

"It is absurd for men to expect to sense the spir- 
itual except with spiritual faculties," writes Bishop 



92 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

Brent. "The physical world is perceived by a sen- 
sory apparatus of the same substance as that of the 
spiritual world. There must be an inherent affinity 
between the thing apprehended and the organ ap- 
prehending. Now the natural man receiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness 
unto him; and he cannot know them because they 
are spiritually proved." 

("The Sixth Sense.") 

Receiving messages from the departed by auto- 
matic writing is certainly a higher form of spiritual- 
ism than the seance, with its materialistic phenom- 
ena, yet it is still far from the highest form of ex- 
ercise for the soul, and tends to keep man's spirit on 
a lower plane. It continues to bring the soul of a 
departed one back to the earthly or human side, 
with human words and forms and such is not the 
language or form of communication in the spiritual 
world. As such practice increases, the true char- 
acter of the spiritual world is dimmed. Messages of 
far greater beauty would be obtained if the soul were 
linked with God and received those messages from 
His spirit. 

The True Spiritual Goal 

It has been my aim from the very start to bring 
those with these tendencies to see the higher values 
and the greater joys when God is made the sole vis- 
ion and desire. With this hope in view, I want to 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 93 

quote from a famous book "Life After Death" by 
Fechner. I came upon this little volume sometime 
after this book was started and I use part of it now 
particularly because the author believes very defin- 
itely in survival; that souls retain their individual- 
ity and that we may recall them by "thinking" of 
them. He does not doubt that there have been ap- 
paritions, but discourages any effort to reproduce 
them. He deplores the attempt to realize signs. 
"There should be no signs in the normal life of this 
world. The present has to build the heavenly body 
only for the future, not yet to see and hear with 
the eye and ear that are to be. And even if one can 
assist his faith in the future life by belief in these 
traces of it shining with the present life, yet one 
should not build upon it. Healthy faith is based 
upon fundamentals, and limits itself to the highest 
point of view of normal life, of which it forms a 
part." 

Dangers on Both Sides 

The author shows clearly why it is harmful for 
those on both sides to practice communication. It is 
most logical. 

"To live at once in the two worlds makes a morbid 
existence. The dead and the living should not com- 
municate. To approach the dead so nearly as to see 
them as clearly and objectively as they are able to 
see each other, means for the living already a partial 



94 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

death; hence the terror of the living before such 
apparitions of the dead; it is also a partial back- 
sliding of the dead away from the realm beyond 
death into the realm this side of it. From this comes 
the saying — and perhaps more than saying — that 
only those spirits wander about which are not quite 
released, which still by heavy fetters are "earth- 
bound." I have shown why I do not grant this, but 
even if it be granted that such is the case, the 
author states that the proper action to take is to 
"call for the help of the Spirit of all spirits. Who 
can harm you under His protection? And so is veri- 
fied the saying that before the voice of God every 
evil spirit vanishes." 

"Meanwhile in the sphere of spiritual sickness, 
faith itself is threatened with the contagion of 
superstition. ****But once lay hold upon faith 
directly from above, and the whole path of belief, 
which will lead us upwards opens easily before us 
here." 

Two Modes of Communication 

One great primary fact we must always keep in 
mind ; i. e. that in the invisible realm, as we lay aside 
the bodily form, so we change our mode of com- 
munication. The spirits commune with each other 
but the character of that intercourse is entirely dif- 
ferent from that of earth. Dr. Fechner writes beau- 
tifully on this point, strengthening this warning 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 95 

against attempted communication of the two worlds 
and at the same time leading the believer closer to 
God. 

The only mode of our communication with God is 
through the soul; which we now possess in common 
with the body. We may praise Him with our lips, 
we may gaze in adoration upon His beauties in 
Nature with our eyes, but it is with our souls alone 
that we meet Him truly and recognize His presence. 

Dr. Fechner closes his little book with a most ex- 
alted vision of the presence of God and of the 
capacity of the soul to make that presence real and 
to include in this experience the presence of those 
in the realm beyond. He says : 

"Yet how easy all would be for faith if man could 
but accustom himself to see more than a mere word 
in the saying with which he has played for more 
than a thousand years, that in God he lives and 
moves and has his being. Then were faith in God 
one with his own eternal life, he would see his own 
eternal life as belonging to that of God himself, and 
in the advancement of his future above his present 
stage of life would perceive only a loftier structure 
above a lower one in God, such as he already has 
latent within him ; he would comprehend the greater 
from the lesser model, and in union of both the 
whole, of which he is but a part. 

"Perception in you dissolves, and memory ascends 
from it within you ; your whole life of intuition dis- 
solves in God, and a higher existence of recollection 
rises from it to God; and like memories in your 
mind, so the spirits of the other world communicate 



96 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

in the divine mind within you. It is only one step 
above another on the same ladder which leads, not to 
God, but upwards within Him, who in Himself is at 
once the base and the summit. With that saying 
void of thought, how empty God was; in its full 
significance, how rich He is ! 

"Do you, then, know how the further spiritual life 
of perception is possible ? You know only that it is 
real ; but it is only possible to a soul. You can there- 
fore, although ignorant how it is possible, easily be- 
lieve in the reality of a future for your whole soul 
within a higher one; you must only believe that 
there is a higher soul, and that you are it. 

"And again, how easy it would all be for faith, if 
man could habitually see a truth in that further 
word, that God lives and moves and has His being 
in all. Then it were not a dead, but, through God, 
a living world, out of which man is building his 
future body and is thereby creating a new abode 
within the dwelling place of God. 

"But when will this vitalizing faith become a liv- 
ing one? -;$P$ 

"He who makes it living will himself be made 
alive." 

Finding The Beloved in God 

Therefore I conclude : I believe in communication 
with our dear ones but I believe it should be car- 
ried on only in the highest, purest character to 
which it most rightly belongs — spiritual. They be- 
long now solely to the spirit world as they have de- 
parted from their body, and consequently both they 
and we are limited to one mode of communication, 
which must be spiritual. 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 97 

That spirit part of us we now possess, the soul, 
is that divine or spiritual instrument by which we 
apprehend God and His great invisible Kingdom. In 
proportion as we truly apprehend Him and grow in 
His image, so we are enabled to embrace the spir- 
itual joy of nearness and relationship of those who 
are with Him in the spiritual realm. 

One who bathes in the glowing, vibrating, inde- 
scribable light and warmth of the Presence of God is 
not alone, as God is not alone. Myriads of loved ones 
are around Him and with Him. Love, in its perfec- 
tion is there with all its overpowering beauty, and 
one is immersed and lifted up in the atmosphere of 
Love. Are not the dear ones there! Love meets 
love ; they mingle with our souls but in the Presence 
of God. He is there above All. We and they alike 
are but in Him and thus the loved are blest, and love 
is made perfect. 

Can one seek for more? Is there aught else for 
which one could seek and find happiness ? 

So I leave this subject where Jesus left it. I am 
certain that His teaching is sufficient, His word 
final. I do not fear for the exceptions that may be 
taken, or that some may say that a spiritual develop- 
ment has taken place in the centuries that have 
elapsed. Men have changed for and against Him, 
but His word has not changed, nor can it change as 
God has not changed. We have not yet attained 



98 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

the spiritual standard Jesus set up and called upon 
His followers to maintain. 

Jesus told us of Perfect Love. He revealed Per- 
fect Truth and showed us how to possess the spirit 
that would lead us to all Truth. Beyond this there 
is no further development. 

"He that sent me is true, and I speak to the world 
those things, which I have heard of Him." (St. 
John 8: 20.) 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 99 



"IF THERE BE GOD" 

If there be God and Heaven, as I believe — 

For who has seen the miracle of birth, 

And life, and love, or watched a mother grieve 

Beside an empty cot, and yet can say, 

"Here on this narrow plane that men call Earth 

Life ends beneath the sod?" — 

If there be God and Heaven, I would not lift 

A futile hand to push aside the bars 

That guard their mystery. But I would live 

With eyes upon the everlasting stars, 

In deep humility ; and strive and strive — 

And leave the rest to God ! 

VILDA SAUVAGE OWENS. 



The above is the final stanza of the poem "If There Be 
Fairies." Published by permission of "The New York Times," 
and by courtesy of the author. 



100 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

The Purpose Restated 

It has not been my aim to write a book on spir- 
itualism; but to touch only that aspect which re- 
lated to healing, for I am jealous that this part of 
our Lord's work be kept free from all that might 
hinder it and turn it into harmful channels. I have 
had to do a great amount of research on this sub- 
ject and it has been hard not to write more. I refer 
to a few books in the appendix. The subject at this 
time presents a fascination for many. I would place 
nothing in the way of investigation or research but 
I do ask that all methods be compared with those of 
the Great Healer, and that all phenomena be tested 
by the knowledge we have of psychology, of the sub- 
conscious, and of the invisible forces within our 
bodies, not hitherto understood, and as new and 
marvelous as the radio. 

If the discoveries of amazing natural laws in the 
scientific world rob me of my "religion" so much the 
worse for the character of my religion. It has been 
a religion which did not embrace that aspect of God 
which was included in that particular law. 

If the study of psychology and the more intimate 
knowledge of the sub-conscious or subliminal, is go- 
ing to destroy my faith, I have a faith that ought 
to be destroyed, for I have failed to include in it the 
full aspect of God, behind and in these subconscious, 
invisible forces. 



TRUE SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION 101 

Science has strengthened every element of my 
religion; and psychology has brought me nearer to 
God, and lifted my faith to higher reaches and 
planes than I ever dreamed. It has brought me into 
an intimacy with Jesus and the Father, I never ob- 
tained through dogmatic statement. It has given 
wondrous reality to the words: "and we will come 
to Him and make our abode with Him." 



CHAPTER IX 
GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS 



The Force of Group Psychology 

It is often stated that good results cannot be ob- 
tained at a sitting where there are skeptics. Med- 
iums are very sensitive to unfavorable conditions and 
often cease operations, stating that the spirit re- 
fuses to give a manifestation because of the presence 
of unbelievers or skeptics. As a consequence, in the 
vast majority of sittings this very requirement cre- 
ates the strongest kind of group psychology. The 
quality designated as "expectant attention" is stimu- 
lated to such a degree that everyone is prepared to 
see and hear almost anything and to take for grant- 
ed the source described by the mediums voice. 

It is because of such; perfect psychological con- 
ditions that mediums have been able to deceive such 
able men as Prof. Hyslop, Sir Oliver Lodge and 
Conan Doyle, to say nothing of other serious minded 
investigators. There is not a single great medium 
who has not been found to resort to some form of 
trickery. Some of these tricks or deceptions might 
easily have been discovered at first if the observers 
themselves had not been involved in the group 
psychology atmosphere. In not a few instances it 



GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS 103 

required a new comer to point out the deceptions 
which had been going on for a long time. As Car- 
rington has said "over 98 per cent of the physical 
phenomena are fraudulently produced." Investiga- 
tions up to the present time substantiate that em- 
phatic statement. 

I feel therefore that this true spiritualism has 
been greatly harmed by the so-called spiritualism of 
the day with its hosts of money-making mediums 
and its hosts of pathetically deluded followers who 
having believed a He are loth to change their mind, 
and on the contrary are seeking in every direction 
for evidence to support them in their belief. Per- 
sons in such a state of mind are quick to select only 
those instances which strengthen their position and 
are equally as quick to discard or refuse to consider 
any evidence which might weaken it. 

Mental attitudes are indeed of great value. They 
create atmospheres in offices and homes and 
churches and in the school room and lecture hall, 
which produce real mental force of a harmonious 
nature most beneficial to all concerned. 

I believe that the highest and most potent form of 
such atmospheres may be created by a body of per- 
sons seriously seeking truth, consecrated to truth 
and willing to follow it no matter where it may lead, 
and in pursuit of which they will joyfully relinquish 
any preconceived opinions or traditions. 

The true truth seeker has an open mind and a 



104 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

flexible one. He is not a skeptic, least of all a scof- 
fer. Moreover he is patient. He is sympathetic and 
reverent in his attitude, for, with every step, he 
finds himself nearer to the great first cause, Life and 
Wisdom itself, to whom he must pay devout hom- 
age whether he gives that cause a name or not. 
Credulity, such as that seen in the average person 
in the average spiritualistic seance, could have no 
place in him and to ask him to lower himself to 
such a mental state would be to ask him to cease 
being a truth-seeker. 

One may seek the truth in love and deepest sym- 
pathy just as one may speak the truth in love. The 
requirements made at seances are such as deprive 
the average person of his capacity as truth seer or 
truth-seeker. Instead of being led to the light they 
are among those led to walk still further in darkness. 

The effort to see further into the spiritual world 
should not be hampered by conditions which would 
not be exacted in any other department of truth- 
seeking. There are boorish scoffers to be found 
everywhere. Nor are such limited to the man in 
the street. They may be found even among college 
professors, professional men of all classes, and 
clergymen of all denominations. They are men 
whose prejudices are so deeply seated that their 
capacity for real vision seems well-nigh hopeless. 
No branch of science or religion is honored by such 
men. No one cares to remain long in such atmos- 



GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS 105 

pheres as they create. They themselves are dis- 
turbers of harmony. 

To ask, however, that persons place themselves in 
such a mental state that the hocus pocus and buf- 
foonery of the seance is not discovered to be such, 
but is accepted as the performance of departed 
spirits, is an affront to truth itself, and real truth- 
seekers will guard themselves against such viola- 
tion. 

It is certainly proper that a person in any form 
of research or even literary work should ask for 
compliance with certain "conditions." But, as 
Carrington well says, "they should not be granted 
to the point where they cease to prohibit the prac- 
tice of fraud." 

The effort to learn more of the spiritual world is 
an effort toward knowledge of a higher plane — we 
might say a purer, higher form of truth. Even 
spiritualists made this claim. 

This then should be the foundation upon which all 
investigations should be made. Nothing should be 
permitted which would act as a barrier to light, for 
truth is light. No bargains should be made, no 
compromises even suggested. Light and truth are 
synonomous. 

God said, "Let there be light." 



106 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

n 

A Note on The Ectoplasm 

What bids fair to be the greatest contribution 
ever made to the subject of spiritualism, and one 
which would free it from much ignorance and super- 
stition, was the discovery by Dr. William J. Craw- 
ford of an unknown invisible force, which was pro- 
jected from the body of the medium and resulted in 
table lifting or tilting without contact of hand or 
foot. This operation is known as "telekinesis" and 
up to the time of the discovery was supposed to be 
performed by spirits at the bidding of the medium. 
The force is said to consist of a living substance and 
has been designated "Ectoplasm." In Europe the 
scientist who has been giving most attention to 
this is Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing, a practising 
physician in Munich, who has just published the re- 
sults of his years of work in "The Phenomena of 
Materialization." 

Dr. Crawford's great addition to science was (1) 
that he proved that the power of the ectoplasms was 
applied through rods and cantilevers and obeyed 
other engineerings laws, and (2) that whenever the 
medium lifted a table weighing, let us say, twenty 
pounds, she gained exactly twenty pounds, just as if 
she had moved the table with her natural arm. 
Both experimenters discovered that there was a 
direct physical connection between the plasms and 
the body ; that to touch it without permission caused 
pain and (the latter is hypothesis) amputation of 
large portions would cause death. (His books may 
be obtained from his publishers E. P. Dutton & Co., 
N. Y.) 



NOTE ON ECTOPLASM 107 

Monsieur de Fleuriere, a French ecclesiastic, tes- 
tifies of a sitting with Eva C. "After a relatively 
short period of waiting, some white patches, like 
drops of milk appeared on the medium's breast, dis- 
appearing and reappearing. Shortly afterward a 
white substance seemed to detach itself from her 
mouth or chin. It gradually assumed the shape of a 
hand. After it had withdrawn a little, it appeared 
again and stroked the hand of the observer (Com- 
mandant Dargot) and allowed itself to be touched by 
Mme. Bisson and myself- * * * we could touch 
this material and it gave the impression of a most, 
cool and somewhat resistant substance. No doubt 
the materialized products (outlines of faces, etc.) 
are made of this elementary stuff." 

Significant among the facts discovered by Dr. 
Crawford was that the force could not move an ob- 
ject less than three nor more than five feet from the 
medium. A flash light will cause it to disolve very 
rapidly and if an arm or other object passes through 
the substance, the table falls. 

In a review of these two books in the Book Review 
(N. Y. Times, July 2, 1922) Mr. Horace Green pre- 
sents this rather naive explanation: 

"Though the savants may not wish to express it 
in such terms, the following is possible: That the 
medium gives temporary, immaculate birth to fugi- 
tive parental matter without organic growth and not 
capable of permanent life, but nevertheless capable 
of immediate temporary formations subject to tre- 
mendous exertions of imagination and will power 
expressed by the medium herself or through the 
medium by others present. 

"So much for the composition of the ectoplasmic 
matter. There remains the question which for cen- 



108 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

turies has puzzled the world: Is the animating in- 
telligence mortal or immortal? The spiritualists 
maintain that the intelligence controlling the action 
of the ectoplasm is the spirits of persons who have 
passed beyond. The latter are generally called 
"operators" or "controls." Psychic researchers, 
strictly speaking, attempt to explain the phenomena 
on chemical or physiological grounds. Obviously, 
the plasmic matter is the channel through which 
power is conveyed, and the plate on which photo- 
graphs are developed. 

* * * 

"As to the resemblances of dead persons which oc- 
cur in the midst of the ectoplasm, as shown in hun- 
dreds of Schrenck-Notzing photographs and those 
thrown on the screen by Sir Arthur, science appears 
to be on the verge of several natural, as distinguish- 
ed from supernatural, explanations. And where two 
explanations are possible, why take refuge in the 
ghostly? 

"Applying a priori reasoning, we find that in 
more than one instance in the midst of ectoplasm 
produced by the medium Linda G. there were ob- 
served faces of portraits recently seen by the 
medium at the Louvre. In cases where the medium 
is allowed to produce her own images, the camera 
usually shows whatever image is uppermost in the 
medium's conscious or unconscious mind; or if she 
is controlled by some one else present, her thoughts 
may be similarly affected. The emotional and there- 
fore transparent, mother of the dead son visits the 
sooth-sayer. She would move heaven and earth to 
see the dead face again. She does actually see it in 
the midst of the ectoplasm with all the familiar de- 



NOTE ON ECTOPLASM 109 

tails, even to the bullethole in the temple (because 
she knows he was hit in the head) . This is neither 
imagination nor hallucination, but a case perhaps of 
thought photography, which produces on the sen- 
sitive ectoplasm an objective picture. 

The Recapitulation 

"To the lay intelligence it all comes down to this," 
concludes the reviewer; "Psychic science has dis- 
covered, and in the course of time may even harness 
to its use, a new and astounding force. It is just as 
incomprehensible, and no more incomprehensible, 
than the forces by which we are already surrounded 
and about which we have ceased to wonder — the vol- 
cano, radio, wireless telephone, fire, mesmerism, the 
growth of a plant, the birth of a human being. If 
these facts are proof of the Life Hereafter (and who 
shall say they are not?), then newly discovered 
psychic phenomena are an even further proof. 
Nature, cross-examined by science, comes forward 
as still another witness at the eternal trial of man's 
faith. Perhaps, as Swedenborg would have us be- 
lieve, intellectual conviction is not possible, nor in- 
tended to be possible. The last barrier must be 
taken on belief, as of old." 



During the early summer of this year (1922) a 
committee of 15 French physicians made an ex- 
haustive set of experiments in Paris with Eva, the 
medium, and with respect to the ectoplasm, and re- 
ported their results negative. Dr. Joseph Jastrow, 
professor of psychology, of the University of Wis- 
consin, in an extended article on this particular sub- 
ject in the New York Times of July 30, 1922, 



110 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

relegates the phenomenon to trickery of some sort, 
possibly a form of clever regurgitation. He proves 
that the medium Eva C. is the same person as 
Marthe Berand, who several years ago, was de- 
tected in vulgar fraud in seances in Algiers. 

While the character of this force is still unsolved, 
it is an established fact that such a force exists and 
may be exercised by certain persons who have a 
definitely developed psychic power. It certainly is 
more marked in some than in others. Whether it 
will partake of the nature of electric vibrations, or 
of a plasmic substance, which may be subject to 
chemical analysis is hard to say. Both theories are 
possible. There may be two distinct forms of this 
force or possibly a combination of the two. 

The law of physics will eventually clear up the 
question beyond all doubt. The fact that this force 
has been transferred to the realm of physical law, 
however, sounds the death knell of the spiritistic 
thesis. 

Science has acknowledged the existence of this 
force and demonstrates that it emanates from the 
personality of the medium and is not the result of 
discarnate spirits. 



CHAPTER X 
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 

It is not an easy task to present a helpful biblio- 
graphy, because a list of books on the subject of 
Spiritualism, published in the last two or three years 
alone, would offer a confusing array. As I have 
stated before I do not intend this book to cover more 
than a single aspect of the spiritualistic field and I 
shall try to confine names of suggested books and 
also extracts that will be enlightening in that direc- 
tion. 

I am very much in sympathy with the statement 
of John Palmer Gavit, who, in reviewing eight books 
on this subject in "The Evening Post Literary Re- 
view" (N. Y. Feb. 5th 1921) says: 

"The difficulty with a candid examination or re- 
view of any of these books lies in the point of view 
of the reviewer. To one who scorns the whole busi- 
ness, any concession to it, any suggestion that any- 
where amid the chaff there may be a grain of wheat, 
is impossible. To one disposed to discriminate, to 
admit the possible existence of such a grain, it is 
vital to know at first-hand a great deal more than 
type can show about circumstances, conditions, per- 
sonal equations. Only in Whately Smith's book is 
there visible that open mind which is fearlessly re- 
ceptive of facts." 

He shows a very keen inner comprehension of the 
subject by his further analysis, in which is revealed 



112 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

a clear vision and an utter absence of bias. Would 
that all reviewers possessed this rare quality. He 
writes : 

"At the last this whole subject is not a question 
of faith or disbelief, but of fact — however difficult 
and however beclouded by emotion may be the veri- 
fication or disproof. Not that mental attitude is un- 
important. If there be ghosts, dependent upon the 
subtle vibrations of the natural force that we call 
"thought" to get their messages "across," it might 
indeed be that receptiveness of mind would favor, 
disbelief and hostility inhibit, any communication at 
all. Paul in one of his letters to the Corinthians 
said just that: "The natural man perceiveth not 
the things of the spirit; they are foolishness unto 
him; neither can he know them — because they are 
spiritually discerned." 

"But no intensity of faith can produce a ghost 
that does not exist. No unbelief, however vocifer- 
ated, can destroy one that does. In the last analysis 
the ghost must abide this test: If he is not in his 
place in the whole sequence of the facts, and the 
real laws, known and to be known, of nature, he is 
nothing. If he is not real — as real in the same 
sense as sunlight or electricity, color, perfume, or 
music — he must avaunt. 

"Hitherto all this business has been left too much 
to the credulous, obsessed by the "will-to-believe" ; — 
devotees and tragic mourners eager to swallow any 
old thing in the way ofj argument, assertion, and 
pseudo-evidence if only it confirms their supersti- 
tions or comforts their griefs; and to the equally 
credulous, obsessed by the will-to-disbelieve ; — 
scoffers earnest and flippant, eager to swallow any 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 113 

old thing in the negative if only it be sufficiently 
downright and denunciatory in support of their in- 
comprehensible desire that there shall be no such 
thing as immortality. Until a recent time the whole 
question has been relegated, like religion, to a domain 
which "practice" folk left to the priest and the 
theologian ; or, like black magic, to the fakir and the 
charlatan, under a taboo of which the respectable 
spoke only in whispers. There was a great gulf be- 
tween "physical" and "spiritual." And "spiritual" 
was beyond the ken of the everyday mind; outside 
the jurisdiction of the laws of gravitation and the 
multiplication table. . . . "supernatural." 

"Every school boy knows now that there is no 
such thing as "supernatural." The last word of dis- 
covery in physical science has done away with "inert 
matter." There isn't any such thing. We know, 
apparently beyond dispute, that every atom in the 
universe is a sizzling centre of inconceivable activity 

. . . spiritual! The conception of the Al- 
mighty, of Cosmic Consciousness, the Absolute of 
the meta-physician, the Idea of Plato, the "God Is 
All" of the Christian Scientist, the Over-Soul of the 
transcendentalist — are being stated in the terms of 
"cold science" by the electrophysicist. Professor 
Langmuir, perhaps the greatest mind we have in 
the field of what might be called ultra-electricity, 
from the great research laboratory of the General 
Electric Company, has put forth as the result of 
purely "physical" experimentation a revolutionary 
theory of the nature of matter which the intelligent 
spiritualist (if one may be permitted that extra- 
ordinary phrase) can take over whole. The boun- 
daries between the jurisdictions of the chemist, the 
electro-physicist, the biologist, the philosopher, and 



114 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

the theologian — between science and real religion — 
have been blown away with the fogs of a thousand 
blind and foolish yesteryears. 



"The Law of Psychic Phenomena," by Thomas 
Jay Hudson, A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. 

We have made one or two references to this book 
in the previous chapters. Their character should 
be sufficient to inspire everyone interested in our 
branch of the subject to a further and full reading 
of the book. I did not come across this volume until 
this book was practically finished and it has been 
most difficult not to quote a great deal, as the author 
is deeply in sympathy with the healing ministry as 
performed by Jesus. He has four chapters on that 
subject alone, entitled "The Physical Manifestations 
and Philosophy of Christ" (two chapters); "The 
Spiritual Philosophy of Christ" and "The Mission of 
Christ." This section will provide much food for 
study and meditation. 

I present therefore but a few extracts which will 
shed light on our present consideration. His final 
chapter is given over to a very lucid explanation of 
the operation of the objective and subjective (or 
subconscious) minds. He tells of the marvelous 
memory of the latter, showing that nothing is for- 
gotten. He also shows that it never sleeps. He 
was one of the first ones to note that the moral 
tone of the subjective mind is always elevated. Evil 
or wicked deeds are repugnant to it, and it is always 
seeking higher levels. This is the mind which has 
control of the functions and sensations of the body. 

Several of his most effective statements follow: 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 115 

Faith the Great Necessity 

"It is that by the practice of each of the various 
systems of psycho-therapeutics we find that the 
most marvelous cures are effected, and are again 
reminded of the words of Paracelsus: "Whether 
the object of your faith be real or false, you will 
nevertheless obtain the same effects." 

"This brings us to the discussion of the essential 
mental condition prerequisite to the success of every 
experiment in psycho-therapeutics — faith. 

"That faith is the essential prerequisite to the 
successful exercise of psychic power is a proposition 
which has received the sanction of the concurrent 
experience of all the ages. Christ himself did not 
hesitate to acknowledge his inability to heal the sick 
in the absence of that condition precedent, which 
he held to be essential, not only to the enjoyment 
of the blessings which he so freely bestowed in this 
world, but to the attainment of eternal life. "Oh, 
ye of little faith," was his reproof to his followers 
when they returned to Him and announced the de- 
crease of their powers to heal the sick; thus prov- 
ing that He regarded faith as an essential element 
of success, not only in the patient, but in the healer 
also. 

"If the Great Healer thus acknowledged a limita- 
tion of his powers, how can we, his humble followers, 
hope to transcend the immutable law by which he 
was governed? 

"Why is it that our belief has anything to do with 
the exercise of the healing power?" is a question 
often asked. To this the obvious and only reply is 
that the healing power, being a mental, or psychic, 
force, is necessarily governed by mental conditions. 



116 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

Just why faith is the necessary mental attitude of 
the patient can never be answered until we are able 
to fathom the ultimate cause of all things. The ex- 
perience of all the ages shows it to be a fact, and 
we must accept it as such, and content ourselves 
with an effort to ascertain its relations to other 
facts, and, if possible, to define its limitations and 
ascertain the means of commanding it at will. 

"It is safe to say that the statement of the fact 
under consideration has done more to retard the 
progress of the science of psychic healing than all 
other things combined. The sceptic at once con- 
cludes that, whatever good the system may do to 
credulous people, it can never be of benefit to him, 
because he "does not believe in such things." And 
it is just here that the mistake is made — a mistake 
that is most natural in the present state of psychic 
knowledge, and one that is all but universal. It 
consists in the assumption that the faith of the ob- 
jective mind has anything to do with the requisite 
mental attitude. The reader is again requested to 
call to mind the fundamental propositions of the 
hypothesis under discussion, namely, the dual per- 
sonality and the power of suggestion. 

"It follows from the propositions of our hypothesis, 
which need not be here repeated at length, that the 
subjective mind of an individual is as amenable to 
control by the suggestions of his own objective mind 
as it is by the suggestions of another. The law is 
the same. It follows that, whatever may be the 
objective belief of the patient, if he will assume to 
have faith, actively or passively, the subjective mind 
will be controlled by the suggestion, and the desired 
result will follow. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 117 

"The faith required for therapeutic purposes is a 
purely subjective faith, and is attainable upon the 
cessation of active opposition on the part of the 
objective mind. And this is why it is that, under all 
systems of mental therapeutics, the perfect passivity 
of the patient is insisted upon as the first essential 
condition. Of course, it is desirable to secure the 
concurrent faith both of the objective and subjec- 
tive minds; but it is not essential, if the patient 
will in good faith make the necessary auto-sugges- 
tion, as above mentioned, either in words, or by sub- 
mitting passively to the suggestions of the healer. 

Character of the Psychic Force 

"The subjective mind, or entity, possesses phy- 
sical power ; that is, the power to make itself heard 

and felt, and to move ponderable objects. 
* * * 

"It must be acknowledged by all who have wit- 
nessed, under test conditions, any of the physical 
phenomena, that there is a dynamic force residing 
somewhere that is capable of moving ponderable 
objects without physical contact, and that this force, 
whatever it is, or from whatever source it emanates, 
possesses intelligence, oftentimes to a remarkable 
degree. Now, this intelligent force either emanates 
from the spirits of the dead, or it does not. If it 
does not, it necessarily follows that it emanates from 
the living. That this last supposition is the true one 
is evidenced by many of the characteristics of the 
intelligence it manifests, among which the following 
are prominent: 

"It is essentially a human intelligence, and neither 
rises above nor sinks below the ordinary intelligence 
of humanity. 



118 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

"The intelligence is always on a level with that 
of the medium through whom it manifests itself. 
That is, it never rises so far above that of the 
medium as to preclude the possibility of its having 
its origin in the medium's subjective mind. That it 
often rises above the medium's known objective in- 
telligence, is well known and admitted. But we have 
already seen what remarkable powers the subjective 
mind possesses in certain lines of intellectual activ- 
ity, and with what limitations it is hedged about; 
and we find that the intellectual feats of mediums 
possess all the characteristics belonging to subjec- 
tive intelligence — the same wonderful powers, and 
the same limitations. That so-called spirit com- 
munications always correspond to the nature of the 
medium's mind and character, and are limited by 
his capacity, is admitted by all the ablest writers on 
spiritism; and their greatest ingenuity is taxed to 
account for the fact. Alleged communications from 
the greatest philosophers who have gone before, 
amount to the merest twaddle when filtered through 
an ignorant medium. 

Mediums Often Not Consciously Dishonest 

"In strict justice to professional mediums, who as 
a class have been brought into disrepute by the 
fraudulent practices of some of their number, it 
must be said that the detection of a medium in 
fraudulent practices does not per se prove that he 
was consciously guilty; for it is an undoubted fact 
that when a medium is unconscious, and his subjec- 
tive mind is in control, it often acts capriciously, 
and presumably fraudulent practices might be in- 
dulged in without the objective knowledge or con- 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 119 

sent of the medium. Therefore, until the laws gov- 
erning the subject-matter are better understood, we 
should extend the broadest charity over the profes- 
sional medium, except in cases where it is discov- 
ered that the paraphernalia necessary for the perpe- 
tration of fraud have been prepared by the medium 
in advance." * * * 

"There is no system of religious belief which is so 
thoroughly fortified by facts} as that of spiritism, 
when its phenomena are viewed from the standpoint 
of the investigator who is unacquainted with the 
latest scientific discoveries in the domain of experi- 
mental psychology. But with that knowledge in 
possession, the evidential value of the phenomena of 
spiritism is vastly depreciated, and the high char- 
acter of the medium for truth and sincerity loses all 
its weight as a factor in the case." 

Dangers of Mediumship 

"It is undeniable that the tendency of mediumship 
is to unhinge the mind, to destroy the mental bal- 
ance, and often to produce the worst forms of in- 
sanity. And it is noticeable that the more thorough- 
ly sincere the medium is in his belief in the genuine- 
ness of his power to evoke the spirits of the dead, 
the greater is the tendency to insanity. The reason 
is obvious. If he sincerely believes himself to be 
under the control of an extraneous power, he yields 
implicit obedience to that power; especially if it as- 
sumes to be a superior mentality, as it generally 
does. Instead of assuming control of the power, he 
allows it to control him. As a matter of course, he 
is ignorant of the laws pertaining to it. He is ignor- 
ant of the fact that the force which controls him 



120 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

resides within himself, and is not a superior being 
commissioned from Heaven to convey a message 
from the Source of all knowledge. He is dazed by its 
wonderful exhibitions of superior intelligence, is 
captivated by its eloquence, and awed by its assump- 
tion of authority. In short, he knows nothing of 
its source, or the limitations of its powers of rea- 
soning. The result is that he yields implicit obedi- 
ence to its guidance in all things. His reason has 
abdicated its throne and abandoned its functions, 
and he is at the mercy of his subjective mind, 
which, in turn, is controlled by the false sugges- 
tions of his own disorganized and subjugated ob- 
jective intelligence. His physical degeneracy keeps 
pace with his mental decline, his whole nervous sys- 
tem is prostrated by excessive exercise of subjective 
power, and too frequently the end is acute mania of 
drivelling imbecility." 

Some of the Powers of an Adept 

"The Oriental adepts claim that they have learned 
much more of the laws of nature than is dreamed 
of in Occidental philosophy. Doubtless they have, 
if half the stories we hear of them are true. They 
have learned to produce phenomena which far trans- 
scend anything done by our spirit mediums. More- 
over, they have learned the true source of the power, 
and they do not ascribe it to spirits of the dead. 
Said one of them, in my hearing : "I have often been 
asked the question, What is an adept?' An adept is 
a spirit medium who knows that the power to pro- 
duce his phenomena resides within himself, and who 
possesses the intelligence and power to control and 
direct it." This is the exact truth in a nutshell. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 121 

Recognition of the Power 

"This is a power which transcends reason, and is 
independent of induction. Instances of its develop- 
ment might be multiplied indefinitely, but it is not 
necessary in this connection to enlarge upon a fact 
which will receive the instant assent of the intelli- 
gent reader when his attention is called to it. In 
this objective existence of ours, trammeled as is 
the human soul of its fleshly tabernacle, it is com- 
paratively rare that conditions are favorable to the 
development of the phenomena. But enough is 
known to warrant the conclusion that when the soul 
is released from its objective environment it will be 
enabled to perceive all the laws of its being, to "see 
God as he is," but the perception of the laws which 
he has instituted. It is the knowledge of this power 
which demonstrates our true relationship to God, 
which confers the warranty of our right to the title 
of "sons of God," and confirms our inheritance of our 
rightful share of his attributes and powers — our 
heirship of God, our joint heirship with Jesus Christ. 

"It was this power of perception of truth without 
the necessity of resorting to the slow and laborious 
processes of induction that enabled Christ to divine 
the whole law of mental therapeutics. Science, after 
nineteen hundred years of induction, has demon- 
strated the fact that he perceived the whole law and 
applied it with scientific accuracy. The most mar- 
velous part of it all is that the account of it has been 
preserved and transmitted with such fidelity of 

scientific detail." 

* * * 

"The whole life of Christ is an illustration of the 
fact that he knew the law, and, knowing it, employed 



122 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

his subjective powers in their legitimate domain, and 
never suffered Himself to be tempted to allow them 
to usurp the throne of reason." 

His Conclusion 

"It is also believed that whoever so applies those 
propositions will arrive at the same conclusions to 
which I have come; namely, that there is no valid 
evidence, in any of the phenomena of so-called spir- 
itism, that ther spirits of the dead have any part 
in their production. On the contrary, as it seems 
to me, the evidence all points in the opposite direc- 
tion. I refer, of course, solely to those phenomena 
which are produced through so-called spirit medi- 
ums. If there is any communication to be had with 
the denizens of the other shore, it is certainly not 
through them. I have reluctantly arrived at this 
conclusion. It would be pleasant to believe other- 
wise, but I have sought in vain for evidence which 
would warrant me in doing so. 

"In abandoning all hope of obtaining valid evi- 
dence of the ability of disembodied spirits to hold 
intercourse with the living through the interven- 
tion of spirit mediums, I do not for a moment yield 
my hope, or my convictions, of a life beyond the 
grave. On the contrary, the very powers which are 
evoked in the production of the phenomena consti- 
tute one of the strongest links in the chain of evi- 
dence going to show that man possesses within him. 
self an entity which does not depend for its ex- 
istence upon the continued life of the body." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 123 

"Psychic Tendencies of To-day" by A. W. Martin, 
D. Appleton & Co. 

Spirits not Necessarily a Source of Mysterious 
Phenomena 

"No genuinely scientific investigator in our day 
would think of attributing to spirit-agency the oc- 
currence of a mysterious phenomenon which his for- 
mula had failed to explain, albeit that Newton and 
other celebrities in the scientific world had done so. 
When Kepler discovered that the planets move in an 
ellipse and not in a circle he was wholly at a loss to 
account for the strange phenomenon. Accordingly 
he concluded that some supernatural agency must 
be responsible for this strange and unintelligible 
planetary motion. Each of the planets he solemnly 
declared, is attended by an angel who personally 
conducts it on its elliptical tour. But one day the 
law of gravitation became more fully understood and 
it was found altogether adequate to explain the 
mysterious movement. And so the guiding angels 
were dismissed. Is it unreasonable to anticipate 
a possible corresponding dismissal of the good 
spirits that are now said to be the source of many 
a psychic phenomenon? The sciences of medicine 
and psychology have enabled us to dispose of evil 
spirits as the causes of disease and insanity. And 
this good riddance should be remembered when 
seeking explanation for those psychic phenomena 
that still await possible elucidation in terms of 
psycho-physics, a science that has not yet emerged 
from its infancy." 



124 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism," by 

Hereward Carrington, The Universities Publishing 
Co., N. Y. 

Right of Science to Investigate 

"Unless we are omniscient, and know all the laws 
of nature, we cannot say what is possible and what 
is not. What the masses think, in these matters, 
is of no consequence, since we know that the crowd 
is always behind the times in its knowledge and 
beliefs, so that the whole question is merely one of 
facts, which should be capable of scientific proof or 
disproof; it is at least entitled to scientific investi- 
gation. 

This book is very valuable as it sets forth fear- 
lessly and explains all of the various fraudulent 
means by which professional mediums have duped 
the credulous for many generations. 



"Man's Unconscious Spirit" by Wilfred Lay, 
Dodd, Meade & Co. 

A splendidly written book, especially for students. 
The author presents his position in the first extras c 
we give and also tells us most convincingly the rea- 
son for many of our fears and joys. 

The Character of the Medium 

"Ordinarily, however, we lead mentally a com- 
paratively irregular existence, stirred to action by 
motives partially accounted for and by blind instincts 
and compulsions. The thesis of this book is that 
all so-called communications, instead of being from 
a conscious control by another personality, physically 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 125 

separate from the medium, are in reality from an 
unconscious control by a secondary or subsidiary per- 
sonality of the medium himself or herself. In the 
average man or woman leading a reasonably extra- 
versional existence, the unconscious wishes do not 
have the opportunity to become compressed into 
other subsidiary personalities." 

Mr. Lay also quotes Mr. Hill on this aspect and 
presents this illuminating extract: — 

"Another spiritistic writer who better under- 
stands the scientific requirements of the situation 
is Mr. J. Arthur Hill, who in his ' 'Spiritualism," 
(pp. 127, 128) says: "One of the principal diffi- 
culties in the way of admitting an element of super- 
normality — whether telepathy, clairvoyance or com- 
munication from the dead — is the unknown reach of 
subliminal memory * * * Great care is necessary 
as to what we say to sensitives who are helping us 
in experimentation, also close knowledge of their 
lives, their reading, their association in order to esti- 
mate the probability or improbability of this or that 
piece of knowledge ever having reached them 
through normal channels." This is the proper at- 
titude but it is not strong enough, due probably to 
the writer being unacquainted with the extreme 
reach of the psychoanalytic sounding line which, as 
I have elsewhere mentioned, has brought up mem- 
ories after thirty years of oblivion and made them 
live with dramatic vividness in the consciousness of 
the person being analyzed. 

Triviality of Messages 

"A word should be added about the quality of the 
content of the spiritistic messages. Not only are 



126 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

they trivial and without the remotest resemblance to 
the grandeur of thought of the bibles of the world 
which contain the phantasy of the races backed by 
the claim of authoritative inspiration ; not only have 
they in every instance failed to give what would De 
the most desired by humans, and have besides 
criticized the questioners for wanting it; not only 
do they represent in general the worst utterances of 
the medium's unconscious mind, where the "in- 
spired' ' writings of all nations and races have given 
the best expression to the everlasting urge; but it 
is possible in these spiritistic communications to de- 
tect the mercenary, the quibling, the fencing, the in- 
direction of a wild attempt to guess out what will 
please the hearer, without any attempt whatever to 
gain true breadth of vision and nobility of thought. 
* * * 

"Besides the trivial, ignoble and otherwise repel- 
lent content of the volume after volume of collected 
utterances of mediums, the spiritists themselves 
warn against bad or dangerous messages. But we 
should be no more surprised or terrified by the evil 
that comes out of the unconscious via the medium 
than that which comes into the consciousness of the 
world in daily acts of violence and hate, if only they 
both be recognized as coming from exactly the same 
source. If, on the other hand, we were forced to 
believe that the "bad" messages were caused by 
"evil spirits," we should certainly be unhappily situ- 
ated; we should be in a fair way to become terror- 
ized by the thought of what would happen if the 
evil ones gained the upper hand in ourselves or in 
the world at large. 

"The "evil" messages are however only an object of 
pity and ridicule when they are recognized as merely 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 127 

the dejecta of an individual's unconscious mind, and 
no more important for human welfare, or able to do 
it harm than the ashes dropping from a grate. If, 
then, the ouija board and the crystal and the other 
paraphernalia tap the lower levels of a single per- 
son's unconscious, the dregs therefrom issuing are to 
be regarded only as curiosities and of no vital import 
unless they accumulate like rubbish and cause dis- 
ease. Only if we attribute to these "messages," 
be they comforting or distressing, an origin in a 
mysterious "spirit" world will they appear to us as 
having any importance or power over our lives. But 
the attributing of any sort of power to the stratum 
of mind producing these results would be most 
illogical in itself, even if there were not other much 
more valid reasons, mentioned elsewhere in this 
volume, for turning from these products of the 
mind's lower levels to others much more valuable and 
constructive." 



'The Foundations of Spiritualism," by W. Whate- 
ly Smith, E. P. Dutton & Co. 

Nearly all of the reviewers have commented very 
favorably upon this book. It is not long, nor in- 
volved and might be called an excellent book for a 
beginner. Not that it is primary but it sets forth 
the various processes of formation very clearly. One 
reviewer in speaking of a number of books says: 
"Only in Whately Smith's book is there visible that 
open mind which is fearlessly receptive to facts." 
No student or investigator could be paid a higher 
compliment. 



128 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

More Knowledge of Psychology Necessary 

After a presentation of the phenomena of alleged 
communications the author says: — 

"In fact, the true case against the spiritistic 
hypothesis is simply that our knowledge of abnormal 
psychology is not, at present, extensive enough to 
admit of our assigning definite limits to what can be 
achieved by the incarnate mind under suitable con- 
ditions, and that, until we are in a position to do so 
with reasonable precision, we cannot possibly say 
that any particular feat is beyond its powers and 
therefore necessarily due to the intervention of dis- 
carnate intelligences. 

Whately Smith's Conclusions 

"The difficulties of interpreting the matter obtain- 
ed from mediumistic sources are so great that, even 
if the spiritistic hypothesis is correct, the informa- 
tive value of the messages received is negligible. 

"Our final opinion of the value of specifically 
"Spiritualistic" doctrine must be the product of 
these two conclusions; and, if even their approxi- 
mate correctness be admitted, there can be no doubt 
that the phenomenal basis of Spiritualism affords no 
scientific warrant for the erection of the massive 
religio-philosophical superstructure which certain 
uncritical enthusiasts seek to build upon it. 
* * * 

"Cases are by no means uncommon in which the 
"Spirit" can be proved to have been no more than 
a subliminal impersonation which, in slightly dif- 
ferent circumstances, would indubitably have been 
accepted at its own valuation. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW 129 

"The ordinary person who is "convinced" of the 
truth of Spiritualistic claims is commonly so con- 
vinced by the simpler types of first-hand evidence, 
and these are quite valueless in the light of instruct- 
ed criticism. Any indication of supernormal powers 
on the part of a medium is sufficient for most people, 
who are commonly guilty of the most astounding 
illogicalities. Such persons will frequently develop 
automatic faculties in themselves, and I have known 
cases where people have directed their whole lives 
by the instructions thus automatically obtained. The 
crass folly and grave danger of such a course needs 
no emphasis from me. 

"I consider, therefore, that it is impossible to de- 
precate too strongly promiscuous dabbling in psy- 
chical matters by uninstructed persons, especially 
those of strong emotional tendency. It is true that 
those who talk glibly of the thousands of people now 
in asylums for the mentally deranged on account of 
their Spiritualistic practices speak foolishly and 
without knowledge. But even such extreme cases 
are not unknown, and uncritical excursions into 
Spiritualism are seldom likely to prove beneficial. 



"But in deprecating Spiritualism it is important to 
do so on the right grounds. Wholesale denial of the 
facts merely displays ignorance of the subject, and 
it would be equally ill-advised to denounce as religi- 
ously heretical views which should more properly be 
characterized as scientificaly unsubstantiated. 

"The whole matter reduces itself to this, that the 
subject is one which should be dealt with exclusively 
by the expert and not by the amateur. If there were 
no Spiritualists, we, who are trying to study dis- 



130 GHOSTS OR GOSPELS 

passionately the intricate problems concerned, would 
not have to contend with the mass of ignorant pre- 
judice which the cruder excesses of the former, not 
unnaturally, excite in the minds of the public, who 
are commonly incapable of so much as discriminating 
between scientific research and quasi-religious 
propaganda. 

"Spiritualism is, therefore, to be deprecated be- 
cause of the scientific immaturity of the whole sub- 
ject, the great difficulties connected with it, the un- 
fortunate tendency of Spiritualists to indulge in un- 
warrantable, and sometimes heterodox extrapolations 
from the facts, and the ever-present danger that 
their uninstructed adherents should accept as in- 
spired Revelation matter which is really no more 
than the product of incarnate subliminal activities." 



SOMEWHERE 

By Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr 

How can I cease to pray for thee? — Somewhere 
In God's great universe thou art today; 
Can He not reach thee with His tender care? 
Can He not hear me when for thee I pray? 

What matters it to Him who holds within 
The hollow of His hand all worlds, all space, 

That thou art done with earthly pain and sin? 
Somewhere within His ken thou hast a place. 

Somewhere thou livest and hast need of Him; 

Somewhere thy soul sees higher heights to 
climb ; 
And somewhere still there may be valleys dim, 

That thou must pass to reach the hills sublime. 

Then all the more, because thou canst not hear, 
Poor, human words of blessing, will I pray, 

Oh! true, brave heart, God bless thee, wheresoe'r 
In His great universe thou art today. 



CHRISTUS CONSOLATOR. 

Beside the dead I knelt for prayer, 

And felt a presence as I prayed, 
Lo ! it was Jesus standing there, 

He smiled: "Be not afraid !" 

"Lord, Thou hast conquered death we know, 

Restore again to life," I said, 
"This one who died an hour ago." 

He smiled : "She is not dead !" 

"Asleep then, as Thyself didst say, 
Yet thou canst lift the lids that keep 

Her prisoned eyes from ours away!" 
He smiled: "She doth not sleep!" 

"Nay then, tho' haply she do wake, 
And look upon some fairer dawn, 
Restore her to our hearts that ache !" 
He smiled: "Thereis no such!" 

"Alas ! too well we know our loss, 

Nor hope again our joy to touch 
Until the stream of death we cross," 

He smiled : "There is no such'" 

"Yet our beloved seems so far, 
The while we yearn to feel them near, 

Albeit with Thee we trust they are," 
He smiled : "And I am here !" 

"Dear Lord, how shall we know that they 
Still walk unseen with us and Thee, 

Nor sleep, nor wander, far away?" 
He smiled : "Abide in ME." 

ROSSITER W. RAYMOND. 



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